Kamen Rider Kaze
by KamenRider2000
Summary: Tanaka Ryo, a normal teenager with a normal everyday life. Eventually, his life became dull and boring. But who knew that one fateful encounter with a strange figure in an armored suit could change everything. Den-O motif — just a little more original.
1. Chapter 1: The Wind's fate

**Note: This is the first fanfic I've wrote... So... *looks nervously* Please don't be so harsh when commenting *bows rapidly* ^w^  
**

**Obviously I don't own Kamen Rider as it belongs to the awesome TOEI group. But I do own this fanfic :3**

**Chapter 1:- The wind's fate, part 1**

The scene takes place in the glorious scene of the Sands of Time, a place where time does not choose its own path. Outside the human world… in another dimension where the day and the night does not even exist. There, the sky is strangely filled with the seven wonderful colours of the rainbow and the ground… covered in soft brown and glossy sand.

There in the middle of the cold desert-like area, parked a navy-blue time train… also known as the Kaze-Liner. No one knew where it came from but one thing is certain… it exists to protect the timeline.

Inside the train's bedroom, laid a teenage boy around 18 years in age, having a rest on the soft bed with his eyes firmly closed. He is known as Tanaka Ryo, the boy who might change the lives of the people there in the year 2009.

As Ryo laid on the bed, he thought about his past where his mother, Tanaka Ayaka who was previously known as Yamazaki Ayaka, had left for the heavens after being atrociously murdered by a mad man who wielded a knife on the streets of Japan. A blurry scene came into view in his eyes as he saw his younger childish self beside his lifeless mother. Her clothes were covered in crimson blood and the boy… felt frightened, helpless and vulnerable. At the same time, he blamed himself for not being able to do anything to protect her.

_"Mother… mother! Please don't die! Don't leave us!"_

The scene shifted itself and Ryo's younger self was standing in the middle of a graveyard. His father, Tanaka Ryuichiro, was seen kneeling beside his mother's grave and broke down shortly after that… sobbing hard with cold tears in his eyes.

A few weeks after the death of Tanaka Ayaka, Ryo was sent away to live with his grandfather in a mansion close to the city. Tanaka Ryuichiro was a wealthy businessman and in order to expand his business, he had to travel to America alone.

_"Son, I believe you are strong enough to continue your life without me."_

_"But father!" the younger boy replied._

_"Don't worry, my son. Someday, I will return. It's a promise."_

Ryo eased his eyelids open… only to stare at the empty ceiling of the time train. The room was surprisingly small and dimly lit in yellow light. It does seem strange for an enormous train to have such a small room.

"Those memories… again?" As sad as he was but never in his life has he shed a single drop of tear. Perhaps… he was saving it for someone more important. The boy closed his eyes for a moment before slowly sitting up from the bed and turned to look at the floor. His eyes shifted to the navy-blue Rider Pass which was set on the nearby coffee table.

"I will never let another body die in front of me ever again…" He said silently and got up from his bed.

-----

Monday 05 January, 2009. 7:25 am

It was a lovely morning and there in the wide open garden, filled with flowers, trees, outdoor decorative and such, stood a huge Bungalo painted in solid milky white where the wealthy family of the Hanazawa's live. The hired maids of the house were already wide awake by then and were half way cleaning through the kitchen.

Inside one of the bedrooms… laid a blonde haired girl around 18 years in age, sleeping on the king-sized bed in her silky purple night gown. Her name is Hanazawa Lily. She had a beautiful face and a slender body. Among all that, she also had an amazingly fair skin as she was born being a half American and a half Japanese girl.

The sound of the alarm clock could be heard in her room which sounded very much like a violin as it gently played the music without a rough scratch. The girl woke up with a yawn and gracefully stretched her arms for a minute before slowly turning her head to the clock. She then gasped in horror and rubbed her eyes.

"Ahhh! I'm late for my first day of class! Stupid clock! You were supposed to ring an hour earlier ago! Kyaaa!" She screamed as loud as she could and threw a pillow at the clock, causing it to drop hard on the cold floor. What a surprise to see that coming from a 'graceful' young lady.

The girl jumped out of bed and wore her bunny slippers in a hurry, heading to the washroom. After a few minutes, she was out… also in a hurry. She ran into her changing room and came out wearing a black jacket and a knee-length skirt. Without hesitation, she ran to her dressing table to comb her long hair and such before grabbing her bag… and dashed out her room.

Once downstairs, her mother and father were seen seated on the dining table and both were already half way eating through their breakfast.

"Good morning papa, mama!" She greeted with a friendly smile and ran towards the door.

"Lily-chan? Aren't you going to have any breakfast?" Her mother said with a concerned look on her face. Lily thought for a moment before running back to grab a slice of bread on the plate and popped it into her mouth. She waved goodbye and put on her white boots before entering the black limousine that was waiting for her outside.

"That girl is always in a hurry." Her father said with a loud laugh and a took a sipped of his hot cup of coffee.

-----

7:50am

Ryo was walking slowly on the street with his right hand tugged into his pocket and his black bag over his left shoulder. He wore his black leather jacket over his uniform and took his time to walk in a really slow manner even though he knew that he was already over 40 minutes late for class.

"First day of school…" he sighed. This was his last year in school and he couldn't wait until he is done with high school.

"Hey! Ryo! Wait up!" A loud and friendly voice could be heard from a distance as the figure ran clumsily towards Ryo.

"I guess you're late too, huh?" Ryo sneered at his 'friend', without turning around to face him but continued walking at a slow pace. He never considered having friends in the first place but somehow, that person was an exception.

"Yeah~ I Had a long night last night. My mom was nagging at me about my attitude of hanging around with too many girls." He laughed and scratched the back of his neck. Kisaragi Jun was his name, the third most popular person around the girls there over at the Oshima high school in Japan.

"I… see… Well, let's get going or we'll be late for class." Ryo replied, uninterested in Jun's boring story. He had never asked why Jun was late and shook his head with a deep sigh.

"Some words coming out from someone who walks as fast as a turtle." The other boy shot back with an annoyed look in his face.

-----

A black limo pulled over beside the Oshima high school gate as a female figure gracefully stepped out and soon, was seen running towards the gate. She was already late and she did not want to waste any more time. But then, she was stopped by a male prefect in charge. He walked over to her and took out a small notebook out of his pocket.

"Oh, come on! I'm already late! And now you're gonna make me miss the whole thing?!" She shouted at the prefect in an angry voice tone. The boy however, was still calm as usual.

"I need to have your name and your class name. Then, you may proceed without any further difficulties." He ignored her previous sentence and was only focused on doing his own job as a prefect.

"Alright. Name, Hanazawa Lily from class 3-A. Happy now?!" she sighed and stormed off to class in a hurry.

-----

8:03am

Meanwhile, Ryo looked up at the sign which says '3-A' and walked into the class in a cool matter, followed by Jun who was yawning groggily as he walked in. He and Jun had sneaked pass by the prefect earlier on without a problem. The whole class went quiet for a moment until Ryo and Jun were seated at their usual desks from the previous year. At once, the classroom echoed with laughter and chattering.

Ryo sighed and leaned on his seat. Beside him was a new girl who had just recently been transferred from another school. She was staring at him and smiling at the same time. Sure, it was obvious that she took a liking for him but he, however, ignored her silly smile and laid his head on the table.

"This is the first time I've seen him this sleepy. Don't tell me he stayed up late to watch…" Jun said in his mind with a naughty smile on his face. "Busted."

-----

8:25am

A few minutes later, Lily appeared outside the class and was seen crouching on the floor as she tried to crawl into the class without being caught by anyone. But the teacher had sensed something and turned her head to the door.

"Hanazawa Lily!" she said in a stern voice. Lily quickly stood up and brushed the imaginary dust from her uniform. "I assume you have a solid excuse for being late for the first day of school." She continued and crossed her arms with her eyes looking straight at the nervous girl.

"I uh… Yeah I do… But uh…" Lily's words were jumbled and she tried her best not to sweat. "Ah! This wouldn't have happened if I hadn't gotten lost!" she said in her mind. She was in the 3-B class on the previous year and due to her excellent results for the final exams, she was encouraged by her homeroom teacher to study in class 3-A.

"Take a seat. We'll discuss about this after recess." The teacher turned her head back to the white board and continued writing. Lily gave a sigh of relief and slowly walked to her seat.

"You're lucky she's in a good mood today, Lily-chan." The girl beside Lily whispered to her. Her name was Sasaki Ai. Her hair was only shoulder-length and it was orange in colour. She had been Lily's best friend since elementary school.

"Yeah… But I'm sure I'll be getting detention right after school." She gave another sigh.

-----

10:00am

The bell rang, signaling that it was recess time for the students. The students in the class were pushing against each other to head out of the class while Ryo continued to rest on the table. Jun stood against his back on the wall and waited until everyone had left the class.

"Hey, Ryo! Aren't you going for some low time?" Jun whistled.

Ryo lifted his right hand and waved to him. He was feeling more exhausted than usual. Maybe because he had been training for almost 5 hours the day before.

"Alright… I guess," Jun shrugged and walked out of the class. "Seems that he fell into a moody trap."

The whole classroom was completely silent and Ryo could only hear the sound of his heart beat at that moment. He lifted his head and sat up straight with his vision focused on the whiteboard, but he wasn't actually reading the words which were written on it. A sudden pain on his side jerked him back to reality as soon as he had moved his right arm.

"Damn…" he cursed to himself and slowly shook his head. He had wanted to go back to sleep but soon, a familiar figure entered the classroom and leaned on the main door.

"Tanaka… Ryo. Why are you sleeping at this time? Did you stay up to take care of a baby?" the figure insulted with a loud voice. An irritated Ryo lifted his head up and turned to the boy, cursing in his head at the same time. Takayama Kenichi, known for being the first or the second most popular guy in the whole school and Ryo was his living rival, otherwise he would have been in the top by now.

"What now, Ken?" Ryo replied a few seconds later, obviously annoyed that someone had interrupted his rest. "Is it a crime to fall asleep during recess?"

"Oh, no. Not at all" The boy laughed. "I was just worried about you." And with that, the boy walked away from the classroom, laughing away like a mad animal.

"That idiot… and why did I even bother showing up in the first place?" Ryo sighed with disgust. He had never hated Kenichi even though he was being ill-treated like that but Ryo knew that it was no use to try and save a mad dog.

-----

"Ai-chan, we'll meet at the hut, m'kay~?" she ran off without expecting a reply from her friend and headed straight into the teacher's room. Upon entry, she turned her head to the left where the teacher was waiting for her.

-----

10:25am

Jun stormed into the class and quickly rushed over to Ryo. It took him quite a while to catch his breath and to gather a bunch of words in his mind to explain the situation.

"Yes? What is it?" said an irritated Ryo with a frown on his face. "First Ken and now him. I wonder if I should go and live in a cave alone…" Ryo mumbled in his mind once more.

"Big trouble! And I mean BIG TROUBLE! The-the-the...!" Jun cried and tried to keep himself calm.

"Wait, slow down. What's going on?" Ryo replied and gave Jun a rough shake. Some of the students ran into the class and grabbed a few items out of their bags before rushing back out in a hurry. Ryo looked around with a puzzled look and wondered.

"The prefects are having some sort of check up right now!" Jun panicked and ran to his seat, taking out a few strange magazines from his bag and hid it in his shirt.

Ryo stayed silent for a few moments. "You've gotta be kidding me... A check up on the first day? And you woke me up just to tell me that?" he said in an irritated voice but he wasn't actually angry. "Besides, you know I never bring anything that's forbidden in this school..." he laid his head once more on the table.

"Keh! Forget you. I gotta hide these!" Jun ignored him and ran out of the class, searching for a secret place to hide his precious belongings.

A few moments later, a group of students returned to the class and stood beside the door in a straight line. Ryo heaved a sigh and followed, being the last person in the line while Jun was somewhere in the middle. A female teacher with a long silky black hair walked in, followed by group of prefects.

"Alright class. Please give your full cooperation on this. We will only do this twice a year, so no worries." The teacher said in a humorous voice, wanting to cheer up the students.

A few minutes had passed and it was finally Ryo's turn. The teacher held a large box which was greatly filled with the student's confiscated belongings and soon, one of the male prefects walked over to Ryo.

"I'm sorry but you need to remove that jacket for a moment. I need to check if you're wearing a tattoo."

Ryo hesitated for a moment before finally removing his jacket. The prefect stared at him with his eyes as large as a marble's as he was eyeing at Ryo's right arm. It was neatly bandaged in a white band-aid. The prefect had thought that it was some sort of trend and ordered Ryo to remove it at once. The Prefect proceeded with the check up and slightly lifted Ryo's shirt and saw another white bandage covering his chest. The boy went silent as soon as his eyes saw that there was a slight stain of blood on the surface of it.

"Great. Are you done now?" Ryo said sarcastically and grabbed the jacket off the boy's hands.

"What happened to you?" said the teacher, concerned. The whole class turned their eyes to Ryo and some started gossiping about him.

"Wow… Ryo was in a fight?" One said.

"I don't think so. Maybe he fell off the pavement or something." One guy laughed. Most of the boys in the class hated Ryo as they thought of him being a snooty and arrogant person.

"Wah! Ryo in a fight! How cool is that?" said another girl with a shine in her eyes.

"Okay… I guess he wasn't watching what I thought he was watching." Jun said in his mind with regret and scratched his head.

Ryo, giving his usual silent treatment, ignored everyone and walked back to his seat.

A few moments later, the students headed out of the class to continue their recess moment. Ryo stood near the window and looked at the nearby park.

"Something's coming…" he felt the cold wind against his face and quickly ran out of the class. "Lucky my pass is still with me."

-----

On the other side of the city, a creature which looked similar to that of an eagle was rampaging in the park, destroying every single thing in its path. "DAMN IT! Where do I find a girl with a teddy bear?! What an annoying wish!" the creature shouted as loud as he could and smashed another bench in front of it. "DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT!!!"

Suddenly, an armored figure in blue leaped above the creature and aimed a sharp kick towards its head, causing it to fall hard on the solid cement flooring. It quickly stood up in a rage and held its head in pain. There was a slight crack on the ground where it took the shape of the creature's head.

"WHO DID THAT?!" the creature spat and looked around but the attacker was nowhere to be seen. Soon, another blow was aimed at its back. "Hey! Let go of me!" the creature shouted out loud as its body was being pinned onto the ground by the armored figure.

"Sure." The figure lifted his right leg to free the creature but then, he gave a solid kick at the creature. It rolled several meters away and soon, it stood up angrily and turned to look at its enemy.

"It's you again! Kaze!" it pointed and started stomping its foot angrily. "Can't you just leave us Imagins alone?!"

"Hmm… Let me see… No." Before Kaze could even step forward for an attack, the Imagin had already escaped from the battle zone, flying away at such a great speed and left him there standing alone in the middle of the park.

"Coward." The rider exclaimed and walked away…

___________

**Note: I will only... only... only publish my fanfics here in and OrderofZeronos. If any of you guys see another person (with my name KamenRider2000 or KamenRiders2000) posting any fanfics of somesort, it's obviously that guy/girl who's trying to frame me/make me look stupid again. Be careful guys, he/she might start stealing soon (I hope that doesn't happen _). Peace! ^.^ v  
**


	2. Chapter 2: The Wind's fate p2

**Chapter 2: The wind's fate part 2**

_**Previously…  
**_

_"Coward." The rider exclaimed and walked away…_

-----

_**  
Thursday, 25 December 2008 9:34pm**… That day, Ryo had decided to have a night walk alone in the city. 8 years had already passed since the death of his mother. It was that time of the year again. Christmas. There was a huge festival going on and evidently, the streets of Japan were filled with chatter and laughter. It was clear that everyone there was having fun, everyone except for Ryo._

_Christmas was his mother's favourite holiday of the year. Every Christmas morning, she would be busy in the kitchen with Ryo, baking trays and trays of cupcakes, pies and other favourable delights and after that, she and Ryo would wrap half of the treats for the kids in the orphanage and the elderly citizens in the old folk's home._

_Ryo avoided the crowd of people and walked into a silent alley. Around the corner, his eyes widened as he witnessed a figure in a silver and black armor, fighting a monster-like creature which known as an Imagin. Nothing much was known about Imagins, except that it travels from the distant future to cause havoc in the past._

_The figure aimed chains of attack combos but to no avail as the person inside was getting weaker and weaker, panting harder each time the creature had managed to attack him. Ryo was astonished to see something like that to even exist in the human world. He took one last look before walking away slowly through another route as he did not want to be dragged into the battle and decided to escape through the other route. But unfortunately, the Imagin noticed the boy and started shooting out thorn-like bullets from its mouth. Ryo's head snapped up as he quickly turned his body around…_

_… Only to see the weak figure on the ground, groaning in pain as it held its chest. The Imagin gave a sneer and leaped away, disappearing into the shadows without a word. Ryo sighed and rushed to the figure._

_"Why did you defend me? I don't even know you… and you… don't know me. We're complete strangers." Ryo said to him. The figure turned his head away and unbuckled the techno-like belt off its waist. The armor died down, disappearing into pieces of black particles and finally revealing a man who appeared to be around in his 30's._

_"I just did what I thought was right…" a crimson fluid began to flow out from the corner of his mouth. "… and you are still a young boy, unlike me."_

_"That doesn't even make sensed." Ryo shook his head._

_The man laughed weakly, seeing how had Ryo reacted._

_"Nevermind," Ryo helped the man up to his feet. "I'll take you to the nearest hospital." He continued in low voice. He was worried about the person but he tried his best not to reveal it in his face._

_"No. It's fine. It's about time I leave this planet and join my family in heaven." The man replied weakly._

_"And, no. I won't have it." Ryo shot back stubbornly as he tried to walk, but the person was completely weak to stand any longer and collapsed on the cold hard ground._

_"Here. Take this," he held out his hand, revealing a navy-blue pass to Ryo. "I think this will help you if you see that creature again next time." the boy held the pass and looked at it awkwardly. "And if you are kind enough… Would you do me a favor?"_

_"I don't do favors…" Ryo said coldly._

_The man could not hear Ryo's words and said, "Live." before closing his eyes and lay motionless on the ground. After a few moments, the body began to disappear into tiny yellow particles._

_"This guy… Is not a human?" Ryo stood up with a sigh, tightly gripping the pass in his hand. "I can't promise you that… But I will try my best," He looked at the black cloudy sky. "And I guess this is what you call fate."_

_Sunday, 04 January 2008 5:32pm. Ryo was walking on the other side of the park. Soon, he had caught site of the Thorn Imagin which had escaped on the previous month and chased after it as it darted towards the park._

_In the park though, Lily was seen sleeping silently on the bench. She had been taking a walk for an hour and was already too tired to walk home. The Imagin landed hard on the ground, jerking her awake from her beauty sleep. It growled as loud as it could and walked closer to her._

_She quickly rubbed her eyes for a clearer view of the unknown figure and when her vision finally cleared, she screamed and stood up from the bench, backing away as slowly as she could._

_"Hey! W-w-w-what are you?! Stay away from me!"_

_Ryo finally arrived at the park and hid himself behind the tree. He gazed at the pass he held and then shifted his eyes towards the two once more. Tapping on the pass, a silver belt appeared on his right hand as he positioned it on his waist. There was something different about the belt, which were the extra buttons on it. It was never there when the previous user had used it._

_"Henshin…" he swiped the pass over the belt buckle. A faint blue V symbol appeared on the belt buckle for a few seconds and disappeared._

_"SABER FORM!" The belt announced as a few tiny blue particles appeared and floated into the air. It soon covered the boy in a white armor which was similar to its previous user. But then, another layer of blue armor attached itself onto the basic form. A metal-plated | came sliding over to his helmet from the back of his head and when it finally positioned itself in place, the | split itself into a large V. While inside his visor, Ryo could see a few words and numbers written on the screen._

_"Kamen Rider Kaze… Saber Form." Ryo read to himself. What a strange name, he thought. But he quickly shook his head and ran towards the Imagin, aiming a flying kick towards its head._

_The Imagin flew aback with a growl while the girl turned her head around to see a strange figure a few meters away from her. She stared with her eyes wide open and stood still. She was so shocked until she could feel her legs turning numb. Kaze turned his head to her but continued his assault and ran over to the fallen Imagin, aiming another blow to its chest. But the Imagin avoided the attack and leaped away._

_"You again! I thought I took care of you!" it stood and raised its claw at the rider._

_"Sorry, but you're facing a different person," Kaze shot back and tapped on his head with two fingers. "You're an idiot, aren't you?" He insulted._

_The creature growled furiously at the insult and charged at the Kaze. But the blue rider was too quick for the sluggish Imagin and easily avoided it, elbowing the creature hard on his back and caused it to fall hard on the ground right on its face._

_"Ouch!!!" it cried and stood up. "So! You're that weak kid, huh?! and I guess he died? Wow! How strong for a mere human!" it said sarcastically._

_"Hmph. I'll show you how weak we humans are," Kaze grabbed the pieces of the KazeGasher which was readily placed onto the sides of the belt and began to combine it together, forming it into a large blue Saber. "Let me see your strength within your spirit…" He shifted into his battle stance and rested the blade on his shoulder._

_"Huh?! What was that kid? Some kind of-" Before the creature could finish, Kaze had already slashed the Imagin from the air. Sparks appeared on the slashed area. The Imagin growled once more and threw a ball-shaped bomb at the rider, exploding on impact on Kaze's chest._

_"Tough one, aren't you? But it's time to sum up the battle!" Kaze dashed forward to the creature and disappeared, re-appearing once more above the Imagin and slashed vertically. A white glowing line appeared on its body and the creature soon exploded._

_Lily, who had witnessed the whole battle, stood there without a word and stared at the armored rider who began to walk towards her. Hers eyes hanged before her body grew weak, but Kaze quickly ran to her side and caught her before falling. She was jerked wide awake as the figure released his arms away from her, turning to the other direction and walked away._

_"Thank you." She said, faintly.  
_

-----

Monday 05 January, 2009. 11:02am

Lily walked out of the teachers' room and ran to the hut to meet her friend. When she finally arrived, she sat with her body slumped against the wooden bench.

"At least I had a good excuse. Otherwise she would've called my parents!"

"I see. That's good. What did you say?" Ai asked, waiting for an answer.

"I uhhh.. said that I had to attend a funeral." She scratched her head and laughed. Ai went silent but soon laughed together with her.

"Hey Ai-chan… Have you ever seen a person fighting in an armored suit before?" Lily asked with a smile and turned her head to look at the bushes.

"I don't think so. Does it even exist?" Ai wondered for a few seconds.

"It does!" Lily stated and began to tell her about the incident on the previous day.

-----

2:00pm

The school bell rang. It was in the late afternoon now and the students from Oshima High were free to head off home. Lily left the school in her limo while Ryo and Jun took their time to walk, heading to the city. The limo soon drove past the two boys.

"Phew~ Finally. School's over! Could you send me to the shopping mall, please~?" she begged her driver with an innocent face.

"But, Miss Hanazawa… What will your mother-"

"She won't mind. I'm a grown up girl now." She smiled. Her driver sighed and finally nodded. She leaned against the car seat and enjoyed the view.

-----

Ryo staggered and stopped in his tracks, moving his arm over to his chest and leaned against the wall. It would appear that the effects of the painkiller he took was starting to die away.

"Hey. You alright there?" Jun said with a worried voice as he turned his head to Ryo and walked to him. "What the hell was he doing yesterday?"

"I'm fine," Ryo took a moment to catch his breath and stood straight up. He continued walking with Jun to the city. "Let's get going or we'll miss the bus."

"He seriously needs to learn how to be more open to others." Jun thought to himself, tilting his head and followed Ryo from behind.

-----

2:37pm

A man was seen walking on the pavement beside the road. A ball of yellow light hovered above him for a few seconds before finally entering his body. Sand began pouring out from his clothes as he stepped back in shock. A cat-like creature which was formed by the sand, stood in front of him and crossed its arms. Strangely enough, half of its body was missing but its legs were above its head.

"Tell me your wish. I will grant ANY wish you desire. But I only want one thing in return…" it demanded from the man as it went closer to him.

"A-a-a wish?"

-----

4:10pm

"Ah~ I'm so tired~," Lily yawned and stuffed all her shopping bags into the car trunk. "I'll walk home. See you!" she waved to her driver and sped off, leaving him standing beside the car… speechless.

"What will my master say…" he said to himself as he heaved sighed.

She continued running until she finally arrived at the bridge. She walked closer to the rail and looked below at the river. This was a peaceful place for her to calm her mind… but what she didn't know was that an Imagin was close by, wandering and searching aimlessly for something.

-----

A cold wind blew against Ryo's face as he walked. He swiftly turned his head around whilst Jun looked at him with a confused face and tilted his head. What was going on?

"Go ahead without me. I have other matters to attend to." Ryo said before heading off to the place where the Imagin was. Jun moaned and turned around, heading home. It wasn't fun to go to the city without someone with him.

-----

The Imagin leaped at her, but it greatly missed its target as she coincidentally ducked to pick up a rusted coin from the ground.

"Ah! I wonder if the river is salty."

"DAMN IT! How'd you know I was gonna attack you?!" the Imagin spat with anger. She turned her head around slowly and faced it before screaming as loud as she could.

"Kyaaa! A monster!" she shouted and tried to run away from it. Ryo arrived at the other side of the bridge and took out the rider pass from his pocket, instantly tapping it. A belt appeared on his other hand as he fixed it onto his waist and swiped the pass over the buckle.

"SABER FORM!" the belt announced and Ryo was immediately covered by the armor.

"You-" before the cat Imagin could finish its sentence, he was already pinned onto the ground by Kaze. Lily eyes widened as witnessed the battle going on between the two.

"It's you again!" she said, pointing at the armored rider. Kaze ignored her, not wanting to be caught off guard during a fight.

"How dare you interfere with my plans!" the creature cursed at him. Kaze was obviously annoyed at the remark, grabbed the Imagin by its neck and gave a hard kick aiming at its chest, sending the creature flying towards the river with a huge splash. It swam away at such a great speed and finally disappeared.

"I didn't know cats could swim." Ryo sighed within his mask and walked away. But the girl stood ahead of him and blocked his way.

"I couldn't thank you properly the other day… So… thank you!" she smiled cheerfully. The blue rider gave a slight nod to her and leaped above her, disappearing from the area without a trace.

"Ah… He's gone again." She said with a slight frown.

-----

Kaze was standing beside the stairs nearby the bridge and leaned against the wall. By removing the belt from his waist, the armor disappeared together with the belt. Only the pass was left in his grip as he stuffed it into his pocket. But as soon as he took his first step forward, he staggered for a moment.

"What the…" he caught site of a small claw-like object which had sunked into his right leg. It had belonged to the Imagin he fought in that short battle and he didn't realize that the creature had stabbed him with it. He pulled it out reluctantly, causing the thorn to disappear into the air.

"I hate those beings…" he fell unconscious on the floor.

At that moment, Lily was walking away from the bridge and instantly saw a limped body against the wall. She gasped and ran over to the boy and bent down.

"Kyaaa!! Is he dead?!" she had wanted to scream but somehow, her hands automatically covered her mouth in an instant. She calmed down and sighed with relief when she saw that the boy was still breathing normally.

"Oh my god… What happened to him…" she was concerned as her eyes focused on the boy's leg. It was slightly bleeding. Deciding that there was no more time to lose, she swiftly took out her mobile phone and dialed for her driver.

-----

8:55pm

Ryo slowly opened his eyes and looked around, strangely enough to find out that he was lying on the hospital bed. Everything that had happened before he fell unconscious was quite a blur to him.

"Are you feeling better now? You had me worried just now." She smiled at him. He slightly jerked in shock and looked at his right. He was surprise to see the girl he had saved earlier on to be beside him.

"This girl…" he thought as he slowly turned his head away from her and looked at the window to his left. He was starting to feel uneasy and to his surprise, the sky was completely covered in black.

"Ah… It's 9pm now, if you happen to wonder about the time," She smiled once more. "Do you need anything?"

"It's alright. I must be going now…" he stood up from the cold bed and ignored the pain on his right leg, forcing himself up and headed to the main door. She walked over and blocked his way.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yes…" he said weakly.

"Okay then…" she moved away. "By the way, I'm Lily. Hanazawa Lily from Oshima High. Nice to meet you!" she introduced herself and sat down on the bed. What a time for introductions, Ryo thought.

"I'm… Tanaka Ryo from Oshima High."

"Oshima…?! Wait! What class are you in?"

"3-A."

"EH!" she cried in shock. It would seem that she hadn't notice his presence in the class. Probably because she was seated in the front closest to the teacher while Ryo was at the far most back of the classroom. Ryo nodded shyly and walked out.

"He is… kinda cute though." She shook her head hard. "Ah! What am I saying?? I barely know him!" a voice in her head shouted at her and she slapped herself across her face lightly, not wanting a bruised face for school the next day.

-----

Ryo was limping back home from the hospital. He did not want to use his pass to enter the Sands of Time and decided to walk back instead. There was a weird noise nearby the trees.

"There's no wind… " Ryo pondered and took out his pass, transforming into Kaze. Almost immediately, the Imagin appeared and leaped onto him, pinning Ryo to the ground this time.

"Not so tough when you can't really see, huh?" the Imagin laughed wickedly. The Imagin's eyes were glowing bright red. The moon in the sky was completely covered by the thick clouds. Therefore, the area was too dark for a normal person to see.

"Hmph. With this…" he tapped on his visor. "I can see anything," Kaze kicked the Imagin away and stood up, moving to his battle stance. "It's time to sum up this battle." he sharply said and swiped the navy pass over the belt buckle.

"FULL CHARGE!" the belt announced and a streak of blue energy slid around Kaze's left leg. He dashed forward and aimed a strong thrust kick, kicking the Imagin back and crashed onto the tree before exploding. He stood up straight and watched the remains of his opponent.

"Move forward to the future…"

___________

**Note: Peace again! ^.^v Okay, the next chapter will be up soon XD**


	3. Chapter 3: The spirit of the wind!

**Chapter 3: The spirit of the wind!**

Tuesday 06 January, 2009. 5:40am

Another beautiful morning and Ryo was seen strolling to school, dressed in his uniform and a black bag which was slumped over his shoulder. It would seem that he had woken up way earlier than the other students of Oshima high. Even the sun was barely up at this hour… Not that he cared much about it though as he figured that there was no point to wait inside his house until 7am.

A few moments later, Ryo arrived into his dull classroom and dumped his bag hard onto his seat before sitting down. The school was awfully quiet in the mornings and soon, the boredom began to fill his mind. Since he had no mood to study that morning, he decided to have a quick walk around the school.

-----

7:00am

"AH! Not again! I'm late for school! Stupid clock!" she shrieked, forcing herself up from bed and rushed into the bathroom for another quick change. Her new alarm clock was not to be blamed this time as it actually rang at an accurate time… 6am. After she was fully clad up in the uniform for school, she rushed down the stairs and greeted her parents as usual before dashing out of the main door… without having her regular breakfast.

"Ah…. She's gone." Her mother sighed as she held the slice of bread. "I hope she won't fall sick."

-----

7:20am

"Hey! Ryo!" a familiar and friendly voice greeted Ryo, followed by wave. Ryo merely shook his face in annoyance. "How long you've been here anyway?" Jun asked and sat down beside the unspoken boy. Ryo gave a light shrug and unzipped his school bag, taking out his Biology textbook and set it in front of his table with a slam.

"DAMN! I forgot to study!" Jun slammed his hands on the table as soon as he said that. He stumbled to take his out his own Biology book for a quick reading moment. How unlucky he was. Biology was the first period of class. Hopefully he could finish reading them in 5 minutes.

Ryo sighed and flipped a paged of his book. He didn't study that night either as he was already too exhausted from that battle with the cat Imagin. "Page 3 to 5."

"AH! That many?! Oh damn!" Jun cursed as he quickly flipped the pages. "This is what I get for playing a video game for hours," he stopped for a moment and turned to Ryo. "It's your fault! You left me behind yesterday!" He sighed and continued reading the book… blankly. Ryo however, rolled his eyes and shook his head. They were only 3 pages and it was only the second day of class. The chapters weren't that difficult at all.

Moments later, Lily arrived to school and dashed through the main gate. Fortunately for her, the prefect wasn't there that morning. She headed into her classroom in a hurry but then, she stopped and stood at the door frame, peeping at the students inside for a few seconds before finally spotting the person she wanted to see; Ryo.

"Wah! It's him!" she squealed in her mind and swiftly headed to her seat next to Ai. Surprisingly, the teacher wasn't in at that time either. Jun was thankful of that and continued reading mindlessly.

"You're late again." Ai said as she turned her page of the Biology book.

"Errr… Well… Yes." Lily nervously replied to her, scratching her head at the same time. That wouldn't have happened if it weren't for that useless clock, she thought again.

-----

10:00am

The bell rang and everyone left the class in a hurry. It was recess now and Ryo as usual, stayed behind and rested on the table like always. Jun stared at him with an awkward look and crossed his arms as he leaned on the whiteboard… unaware of the black ink which was smudged onto the back of his white shirt.

"You know… You've been acting strange lately. Care to tell me about it?"

"Am I? I don't think so." Ryo stubbornly replied without hesitation.

"C'mon man. Normally, you wouldn't stay in the class during recess."

"I'm just tired lately, alright?"

"Okay then. But just remember that I'm always open for a talk." Jun smirked and gave a thumbs up before heading out the door. He soon heard a faint call from Ryo.

"There's ink on your uniform." Ryo crossed his arms with a smirk. What an idiot. The other boy turned his head and shouted, trying to wipe the ink off his uniform with a piece of dry tissue. "You know it won't work."

"Oh no! What will the girls think of me?!" Jun dashed out of the class and headed to the washroom while Ryo began to laugh at Jun's absurdity. At that very moment, a punk-like boy entered with a huge smirk on his face.

"Yo! What's the matter? Teacher gave you detention?" the boy said with a wicked laugh. It would appear that Kenichi loved to rag at Ryo. "Hey, don't you ignore the big Ken. Alright?!" he spat angrily, seeing that Ryo had ignored him by giving him the silent treatment.

"I thought I heard the wind blowing… or am I mistaken?" Ryo said to himself in an annoyed voice. Kenichi's voice was seriously loud and he didn't like it one bit.

"Say that again and I'll pulverize you into pieces!" Kenichi said as he pointed his index finger at Ryo.

"Man. You can't leave me alone for a minute. If it's a fight you want then we'll take it outside."

"Oh, It's ON!" Kenichi shot back, appearing to be as confident as his own words.

The boy walked out of the class while Ryo got up and sighed for a bit, following the boy to the basketball hall. It was the only place Kenichi could think of which didn't have any irritating teachers and students nearby. They stood and faced each other in a battle stance and Kenichi… made his first move by dashing towards Ryo and aiming a punch right towards his face… but it was quickly avoided and countered with a side knee kick at his chest. Kenichi fell on his knees with a groan and coughed hard as Ryo snapped out of his stance.

"Come back when you're ready to fight me." Ryo turned away and walked back to his classroom, leaving Kenichi fuming with anger on the ground at his defeat. This was the first time he lost in a fight in less than a minute. Usually the fights between him and Ryo lasted for over an hour or so and this made a huge gap in his mind. What was that guy?

Back at the class, Ryo looked at his hands, wondering what had happened to his body. He felt that he had gained much more strength than before and if he had fought longer with Kenichi, the boy might've been seriously injured. "Could it be the training… Or the armor…?" he thought to himself about the side effects of the rider powers and leaned on his seat, deep in thought.

-----

Lily was done eating her breakfast there at the canteen and gracefully stood up from her seat to stretch her arms wide. Ai giggled softly and took a sip of her orange juice. Lily nodded and sat down once more, looking up with a bright smile. "You seem happy today. What happened?"

"Oh nothing~"

"So, you like him right?" Ai interrupted Lily's dreaming moment. She immediately snapped out of it and turned to her friend, rapidly shaking her head with a "no".

"W-what are you talking about? I don't! " the other girl turned away in shock and started blushing.

-----

Over to the park where Kaze had defeated the cat imagin the night before, a pile of sand began clumping together before it became solid… and forming an Imagin's body. "I'll grant that wish! But before that…" the creature growled angrily and disappeared from the area.

-----

2.00pm

The bell rang and it was time for the students of Oshima high to return. Lily was the first to reach the gate and waited there patiently for someone. Ai soon caught up to her and stood beside the girl with another giggle.

"Who are you waiting for?" she asked as she tilted her head to one side.

"Well… I… I'll tell you tomorrow." Lily smiled and waved to her friend. She gazed back to the black gate of Oshima High and leaned on the wall. After a few moments, a boy with the black leather jacket slowly walked passed her with his head looking down on his own shadow.

"He seems depressed somehow… Or is he always like that?" she thought and ran to him, tapping on his back as she dashed in front of him. He looked up to her, surprised… but his face never showed it. Keeping silent as he is and blankly staring at her cute face. "I just thought I'd say hi to you."

"I… see." He couldn't think of what he wanted to say and faced away from her… shyly.

"Am I bothering you?"

He looked at her innocent face, lightly shaking his head at the same time. He felt nervous for no apparent reason and wondered why. Could it be that he had taken a liking for her? That's impossible, he thought.

"Well, I'll be going now. See you tomorrow~" she happily waved to him and stepped into her limo which was already waiting for her from before. He gazed at her once more before walking away without a single word. Jun, who obviously saw the whole thing as he was hiding behind the small green shrub, ran up to the boy and rested his arm on Ryo's shoulder.

"Hey! I didn't know you have a girlfriend now!" he said playfully, laughing out loud.

"I don't." a cold reply came from the other boy as they continued walking on the sidewalk.

"Well… Then what do you explain that?" Jun pointed at the black limo with his index finger. Ryo simply ignored him and looked towards the other direction. "And the really confusing part is… How did she know you?? I've never seen you two meeting each other!"

What a blabbermouth, Ryo thought in annoyance. For as long as he knew, Jun might start breaking into his room next. "J… I'm heading off. We'll meet again tomorrow." He said before running off the other way.

"Not again…" Jun sighed and covered his face with his hand. What's wrong with this kid? Is he having tuition classes or what?

-----

"AH!" Lily moved her hand over to her neck. "Drop me off at the park. I think I left something there. Don't worry, I'll head home myself." She said to her driver. He merely nodded in confusion and drove the car to a nearby corner. She ran out in a hurry, heading to the park.

Few minutes later after she arrived, she looked around, panting as she desperately searched for something. Very soon, a familiar figure stood behind the tall tree and watched her every move.

It was Ryo… and it would seem that he had left Jun because he had sensed an Imagin hiding somewhere in the park earlier on. But what is she doing here again? And what was she looking for? A normal girl wouldn't go back alone to the same place where she was attacked before.

After a loud snap somewhere in the park, Ryo looked around and examined the area. The creature was hiding himself in a nearby bush and soon, with a loud growl, it dashed out from its hiding place and leaped out with its arms stretched out widely. She gasped in horror and jumped out of the way, causing the creature to land hard on his face.

"You're gonna regret that little girl!" the Imagin scolded and rubbed its nose in pain. Lily watched his reaction and didn't know whether to feel scared or to just laugh at the silly Imagin.

Ryo took out the pass from his pocket and swiped it over the belt which had automatically appeared on his waist with a flash of light. He had gotten the hang of it and it was pretty easy for him to control the power… sometimes.

"SABER FORM!" The belt announced as usual as soon as the pass was swiped over the buckle… and he was immediately covered in a blue armor. Without wasting any more time, Kaze leaped over to the Imagin and aimed a high kick towards the creature's head. Lily gasped once more at the figure's sudden appearance.

"Ah!" she pointed at the rider with her jaws wide open in shock.

"YOU AGAIN!" the creature shouted with anger and raised his weapon which seemed like a giant claw.

"I should be saying that to you," Kaze spoke. "And why aren't you dead?"

"It's not easy to kill off us Imagins."

What a smartass, Ryo thought. "So… You creatures are called 'Imagins'? What a joke." Kaze laughed and assembled his KazeGasher into a huge saber. The creature started attacking him viciously. But Kaze had blocked most of the hit and countered them with his own unique slash. When the time was right, he stabbed at the Imagin's chest and gave another strong kick. The Imagin fell back onto the ground and groaned in pain.

"Now… I'll make sure you visit hell today." Kaze said as he swiped the pass over the belt buckle.

"FULL CHARGE!" it announced and blue streams of energy glowed around the saber. He backed away slowly before dashing towards the Imagin, half way disappearing and soon, re-appeared above and slashed downwards at the creature. The Imagin shouted in pain before finally exploding into pieces while the rider stood there, staring at the remains of his opponent. The girl walked to him once more.

"I-" She began… but Kaze merely walked away from her. She stared at him and sighed… Kaze realized her emotion and turned around to look at her, walking closer to her and finally stopped.

He held out his right hand and slowly opened his grip, revealing a small and light silver rose necklace. At first, she blankly stared at him… speechless. But after that, her glossy eyes turned to the figure's hand. Her eyes widened in astonishment as she slowly held out her hand to take hold of the necklace. Kaze took once last look before dashing off and leaped over the tree, completely disappearing from the area. She stood there alone with the wind blowing against her long blonde hair.

"Thank you…" she smiled as she put on her necklace… not wanting to lose it again.

-----

4.50pm

Somewhere near the back door of the library, Kaze removed the belt from his waist as the power died down, reverting him back to his normal human form. Lucky for him, no one was watching him at that time. His weary hand rested on the door knob before turning it as he held his pass with his other hand. It directed him to the Sands of Time and without further thought, he made his way through the cold desert… towards the navy-blue time train. Once inside, he fell back on his soft bed, feeling exhausted and out of breath. His sleepiness didn't help one bit and shortly after that, he fell asleep.

-----

"Wow… a knight in a shining armor," Lily squealed. She was already home and had a nice long shower. Her hair was bundled up with a pink towel and she sat on her bed, tightly gripping her diary in content. "I just wish I knew who he was… But that will never happen anyway." Her warm smile disappeared from her face as she released her diary from her grip.

-----

7.25pm

The scene was then focused once more on the park as the clumps of sand began to gather itself to form into a creature. It was the cat imagin again and it was back for a solid revenge. The creature stood up with a loud growl and dashed madly towards the city.

"I'll get that girl! And I'll get that rider!"

-----

Ryo woke up with a start and started panting in fright as he forced himself up bed, heading out of the train and out through the automated door. He went through the portal and continued running towards the city… until he was worn-out and finally stopped.

"Damn it. I can't get there in time," he gave another thought and looked at his pass. "Unless… What's the use of that bike in the cockpit? But how do I-" a familiar whistle echoed in the area as the Kaze-Liner appeared above him. The bike jumped out of the train and drove towards Ryo before breaking next to him. "Okay…" he said with an awkward look on his face as he got on the bike and headed to the city.

The Imagin started going berserk and began his assault, destroying every single object in his path. Unexpectedly, a strong kick was aimed at his head, forcing him to fall back hard on his back onto the concrete flooring.

Ryo jumped back onto his bike and grasp on the brakes before getting down. "Man… Don't you ever die?"

"Cats have nine lives! Don't expect me to die before I grant my contract holder's wish!" the Imagin shouted as loud as he could and dashed towards Ryo with a kick, but it greatly missed.

Ryo took out his pass and swiped it over his belt, transforming him into Kaze. "Oh, really?" he took the pieces of the KazeGasher from each side of his belt and starting combining the pieces together. "Well then. I'll make sure you visit hell in your third life."

The Imagin sneered and stood up once more, leaping towards Kaze. Kaze however, avoided him and countered with a slash using his saber. To his surprise, a strong airstream blew out of the saber and struck the Imagin hard on his chest. Kaze swiped the pass swiftly over the belt buckle as a faint symbol appeared and disappeared once more.

"FULL CHARGE!" it announced as a blue stream of energy appeared around the Saber. "It's time to sum up this battle!" Kaze raised his weapon and dashed quickly towards the defended creature, leaping over it and slashed downwards at its body. Once again, another two slashes were given to the Imagin's back, forming a large glowing 'V' before the creature exploded into thin air.

Kaze watched over the remains of his infuriating opponent before dashing away from the scene, not wanting to de-transform in front of the civilians who were actually watching from afar. When he finally arrived to an isolated area, he removed the belt from his waist, instantly returning into his human form as he walked out of the alley.

"Finally… He's dead for good." Ryo said to himself, feeling satisfied over the fight earlier on and walked home. "And please… don't ever come back."

A few moments later, Ryo entered his house which looked something like a mansion. He was a rich boy but he tried his best not to reveal it to anyone. Ever since he had that time train, he rarely returned back home but today was a different story to him.

"Welcome back Tanaka-sama!" one of the maids greeted him with a bow as he took a step through the main door. He nodded nervously before walking up the stairs.

"Oh, you're finally back." a voice greeted Ryo as he turned around to look at the person.

"Grandfather…" Ryo gave a slight bow. That was his grandfather… Tanaka Hideki, aged around 64. But even at his current age, his face didn't seem too old as he had been living in a healthy lifestyle.

"How was your stay in your friend's house?" he asked and sat down on the couch.

"It was… fun I guess." The guilty boy replied and walked into his room without any further words from him. He had lied to his grandfather about that but he just couldn't help it… ever since he caught hold of the rider powers and such.

-----

9.23pm

"Haaah… All done…" Lily stretched her arms and yawned. She had just done all of her school homework. She stood up from her seat and jumped on her warm bed. "I hate homework… But what can I do?" she sighed and firmly closed her eyes.

-----

Ryo woke up with a start and shook his head lightly. He felt his head spinning and it was hurting at the same time. He took a look around his room. It was pretty spacious… which was much better than the rooms in the time train.

"Tomorrow will be another big day I guess…"


	4. Chapter 4: The creature of the web

**Chapter 4: The creature of the web Part 1**

Friday 09 January, 2009. 5.35am

A lovely Friday morning and Ryo was seen standing in front of the mirror, adjusting his black necktie. He woke up early again and took his precious time before walking down the stairs with another yawn. 2 days had passed just like the wind and recently, there were no attacks from the Imagin creatures. He felt good for once but at the same time, he felt that something strange is going to happen soon.

-----

Surprisingly, Lily also woke up early for school. She glanced at her new clock over at her side and smiled happily.

"Yay! I woke up earlier than the clock! Wait… Is that a good thing?" she got off her bed and headed to the bathroom. Few moments later, she was seen in the dining room, seated together with her family.

"Hey, you're up early." her mother said softly with a surprised look on her face. Normally, Lily would be seen rushing, that's what her mother thought.

"Isn't it good?" said her father and turned the page of the newspaper that he held.

"I slept early yesterday because I was really tired… So… I think that's why." Lily replied, half munching on her toast of bread.

-----

Ryo was already on his way to school with Jun walking right beside him. Everyone woke up early today… was there some kind of special occasion today or something?

When they finally arrived at the school compound, Jun went straight into the class first while Ryo stood and stared at the awkward looking poster which was posted onto the classroom door.

"Sports day… tomorrow?" Soon, Lily walk up to him and tapped him lightly on his shoulder.

"Hello again," she greeted and waved. "And good morning too!"

"Morning…" Ryo timidly replied. The other curious students who walked by stared at the two couple. In the past two days, Ryo was usually seen alone in the classroom. So, Lily had taken the opportunity by staying in the class for a long chat to get to know more about Ryo. She smiled once more before walking to her seat.

Jun, who witnessed the whole 'incident', walked over to him and slapped hard at Ryo's back "Not your girlfriend, huh?"

"What are you talking about?" Ryo said between coughs. "And are you trying to kill me?"

Jun started chuckling. "Besides, you can't deny it. The whole school saw you a few days back."

"Is it wrong for me to talk to a girl?" Ryo shot at him, glaring hard. He was really irritated that morning for some reason. Jun laughed once more as he crossed his arms.

"Nah! I just wanted to get it out of you. So, she is your girlfriend!" he waved his arms in victory.

"No…" The boy denied. It was the truth though… he barely knew the girl since he had only talked to her in less than a week. Jun walked out of the class with a cheeky smile on his face. "Annoying playboy…"

-----

8.46am

Class was in session… But that doesn't mean everyone in the class were actually listening to the teacher's blabbering.

Lily was one of them and she began day dreaming about the mysterious blue figure.

"Lily-chan?" Ai asked and waved her hand in front of Lily, attempting to bring her back to reality. She didn't want her friend to get caught by the teacher.

"Ah! Yes?" Lily replied, snapping out of her dream as she slapped herself lightly across her face, shaking her head the next. "I uhhh… was feeling kinda sleepy just now?"

-----

The scene is set somewhere in a messy old and dull apartment where a strange ball of light had entered a woman's body. Seconds later, clumps of sand appeared out of her body and it began to gather itself, forming into humanoid dog. His body was made from sand and his feet were mysteriously hovering above his head.

"Tell me your wish…" the imagin started as he crossed his arms. "I will grant any wish you desire… But I will take only one precious thing in return…"

"A-a-a… wish?" the middle aged woman replied in fright.

-----

It was almost time for recess and the teacher was currently teaching the students; Mathematics. Lily hated this subject the most and almost fell asleep out of boredom. Strangely enough, the wind blew faintly onto Ryo's face in the class. His head snapped up as he had sensed the Imagin's presence somewhere and dashed out of the class, leaving the students and the teacher confused.

"Where is he going?" Jun thought to himself.

"Ryo-chan?" said a surprised Lily.

-----

Ryo ran to the nearest door that he could find and roughly opened it as he held the navy-blue pass, opening the door to the Sands of Time. Another portal appeared beside him as he hopped through and ended up standing somewhere in the city.

The dog imagin trashed anything and everything in his way, howling gleefully at the same time. But all of a sudden, spark began to fly out of his chest as he staggered back in pain.

"Where are you?! Come out, coward!" the creature shouted angrily and looked around hastily. With a slash from an unseen figure, the creature was stunned and fell on his knees. Kaze soon appeared in front of him with his saber resting on his shoulder. Without a word, Kaze continued his assault, slashing the Imagin hard on his back. The fight lasted for a while until the Imagin was pinned onto the ground with Kaze stepping hard on his chest.

"Any last words?" Kaze spoke as he raised his saber for a final attack.

"Yeah… But this isn't a word." The Imagin replied with a smirk that obviously couldn't be seen by anyone. Another Imagin similar to him appeared behind Kaze, slashing him hard on his back until he was forced to leap away to his right and turned around, facing the two enemies now.

"Wait! There's more." The Imagin spoke again and another Imagin appeared beside him. There were three of them now and they howled, dashing towards Kaze, each attacking him ferociously turn by turn from every angle.

By then, the blue rider was already seen lying on the ground, groaning in pain as the trio stood in a circle and held their hands together, forming a large glowing ball and aimed right at Kaze. Soon, there was a loud explosion and dust flew everywhere, covering the area. The trio laughed as loud as they could before flying away into the sky… thought it was quite strange for a dog to fly. The dust soon settled down but surprisingly, Kaze was nowhere to be seen.

"Damn," he cursed in his mind as he held his chest. Amazingly, he had managed to escape from the fatal attack and ended up escaping through a dark alley. "Where's the dog catcher when you need it."

He de-transformed and headed back to school, battered and bruised but he didn't feel that it was a big problem to him. Science class was in session and he just walked in, ignoring the teacher who was teaching and headed straight to his seat. The teacher ignored him as well, seeing that Ryo was great student and it shouldn't be a problem if he just skipped a few classes.

"Hey, where'd you go to?" Jun whispered to him.

Ryo kept silent and took out his book to read but his vision blurred for a moment and he shook his head slightly.

-----

2:00pm

The school bell rang and it was time for the students to head home as usual. Lily waited for Ryo at the gate and waved to her friend, Ai. Ryo walked out of the class and soon, he arrived at the main gate, taking his eyes off the road and turned to gaze upon the blonde girl.

"Ryo-chan!" she called to him and waved her hand, running up to him happily. He, however, turned his vision away from her. "Hey, are you free today?" she asked and slightly blushing at the same time.

"Why?"

"Well," she continued nervously. "I was thinking if you'd like to go to the library with me today. Only, if it's okay with you."

He gave a thought for a moment. He was free everyday but seeing how shy he was with the girl, he wanted to reply with a "no". But then, another thought ran in his mind. Three Imagins are on the loose in the city and what if they come for her? She waited for his response and prayed in her mind for a "yes".

"Don't be such an idiot! You can't protect her forever you know?! There're other people you need to take note of!" an angry voice shot at him in his mind. Clearly, the voice belonged to Ryo's.

"Follow her. At least, you could study a little and protect her if she gets attacked again." Another voice replied. With a sigh, he finally made his decision and chose to follow the girl and nodded slightly. She smiled and took his hand, dragging him as she ran.

"Let's go!" she happily said and ran towards the library. He stayed silent, despite having a few aching muscles in his body as he was dragged.

Once they arrived at the library, she slowly took a few steps in quietly with Ryo, walking normally beside her. She then walked towards one of the shelves, taking out a science book from one of the slots. Ryo however, wasn't interested in reading any of the books and sat on the bench nearby. He crossed his arms in attempting to cover his left ribs and took another look at the graceful young lady.

"Umm… Ryo-chan? Are you alright?" she asked timidly, inserting the book back into the slot.

His mind was away for a moment until he realized that she was actually talking to him. "Oh, I'm… fine." He replied with a quiet voice and sat up, walking towards her and took out the book she had stuffed back into the slot. "Need some help with this?"

"Ah! Yes!" she covered her mouth with her hands as soon as she realized that she was being eyed by some of the staffs.

-----

At the other side of the city though, the trio dog Imagins stood at the top floor of the building, plotting an attack against the blue rider they had fought in the morning, also known as Kaze.

"I say we should just grant that damn wish and get the hell outta this time!" One of them spoke.

"And I agree with him. After we travel to the past, we can just have all the fun we want." Another replied, slightly laughing.

"Just shut up already! I decide what's best!" the last one yelled angrily at the two. Obviously, he was the real Imagin among the trio and gave long thought. Now what would be the ultimate plan? "Okay, here's the deal," The other two nodded obediently and listened. "We kill that blue rider first… Then we can go and cause chaos in the past."

"Sounds like a plan! Why didn't I think of that?!"

"Because… You're a moron." The leader insulted and pushed him.

"But boss, where could he be right now? As far as I know, he's not going to appear so soon."

"And you're another moron. Just go and destroy some objects down there. He'll surely come to save the city." The other two rapidly nodded and wanted to reply, but the leader simply glared at them in annoyance. Soon, the trio leaped off the building and flew to the park, destroying the trees and everything others in their sight.

-----

2:28pm

Another faint feeling of the wind made Ryo turned to the nearby window as he rose from his seat.

"Ryo-chan? What's the matter?" Lily asked curiously.

The other boy sighed and gave slight a bow to her. "Sorry… But I have to go…" She nodded and smiled at him.

"Alright then."

Before running out, he turned back to her. "If I'm not back by 3…"

"I understand." She replied again as she had seemed to know what he was about to say. "My driver will come to take me home later." She waved as he ran out. "Such a busy guy…" she sighed and closed the book.

Once outside, Ryo stood in front the library door and opened it once more, leading to the Sands of Time. He then headed to the portal beside it, which instantly directed him to the park where the Imagins were. He swiftly took out his pass and swiped it on the belt, which had suddenly appeared on his waist.

"SABER FORM!" the unknown voice announced and soon, Ryo was covered in a blue armor with a pair of Sabers in each hand.

Strange enough for him, only one Imagin was present and without further hesitation, Kaze dashed towards it, aiming a thrust slash at the imagin's abdomen. The creature easily evaded the attack and flew behind Kaze, slashing him with his claw onto Kaze's back. Sparks shot out as he stood and Kaze hurriedly leaped a few meters away from his enemy.

"At this rate, I don't even need my other two clones to finish the job!" the creature laughed wickedly and dashed around Kaze like a wild dog, slashing the rider at a great speed from many different angles. When the time was right, Kaze countered with a double slash at the Imagin and the creature flew aback to the tree and knocked hard against it. The other two of the Imagins appeared beside him and each took their battle stances.

"You idiot! You think you could fight him alone?! Let's just work in a group!" the one of them shouted.

"Hey! I'm in charge here! Who're you callin' an idiot?!" the leader yelled at his clone, angrily. He wanted to kill him for it, but decided not to. Very soon, the trio rushed towards Kaze and assaulted him once more…

In the end, Kaze was driven against the tree. He had no more power to fight them as he was completely surrounded by the other two creatures in each side. The leader, who was laughing proudly at his success, held him up with his hand clutched against Kaze's throat. With another laugh from the evil imagin, he firmly raised his right arm and prepares to stab the rider with the large claw which was attached to his hand.

But then…

=TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT CHAPTER=

**Note: Sorry guys. I found a few typos in the previous one. This one is the better version XD with some minor change in the words ^_^**


	5. Chapter 5: The creature of the web p2

**Note: Okay, I fixed the summary _**

**Chapter 5: The creature of the web! part 2**

**Previously…**

_In the end, Kaze was driven against the tree. He had no more power to fight them as he was completely surrounded by the other 2 creatures in each side. The leader, who was laughing proudly at his success, held him up with his hand clutched against Kaze's throat. With another laugh from the evil imagin, he firmly raised his right arm and prepares to stab the rider with the large claw which was attached to his hand._

_But then…_

A sudden familiar whistle in the background caused the other two imagins to cry and flee in horror as they flew away and disappeared into the sky.

"Hmph," the remaining imagin snorted. "Luck must be on your side today. But I can assure you that the next time we meet… You won't be so lucky." He finally released his hold and with one final glare at the rider, he leaped off the building and disappeared… leaving an injured de-transformed Ryo, struggling in pain in attempt to positioned himself to stand.

"I wonder if that train is build-in with an artificial intelligence program…" That train was useful after all. "But… why did they leave?" He made an effort to walk towards one of the nearby doors as he held the pass, and opening the door as soon as he was close… which had automatically lead him to the Sands of Time again. When he finally took his first step onto the soft brown sand, he fell on the ground on his back in fatigue.

Ryo forcefully lifted his right hand and glanced at his watch. It was already 2:49pm… He thought that he could still make it back to the library if he had wanted to, but he changed his mind as he didn't want Lily to see his current condition. He sighed and closed his eyes before falling into an unconscious state.

-----

Lily was seen seated inside the limo with a book she borrowed from the library which was tightly gripped in her arms. It was the science book that Ryo held when he was teaching her about its contents and she was glad about it… But at the same time, she felt a weird sensation in her heart. Why did he leave the library in such a hurry?

-----

**7:03pm**

Ryo was jerked awake by the throbbing pain in his right arm that was badly bleeding. "I didn't even realize it…" he sighed and limped into his time train, heading into his room for the first aid kit. It took him a while to bandage his injured arm as there was no one there to lend a hand. Very soon, he laid himself on the bed, still exhausted. He glanced at the clock and realized that had been unconscious for so long.

-----

**Saturday 10 January, 2009. 6:02am**

The next morning, Lily woke up early again and prepared herself for school. Oshima high was the only school which had classes on the second Saturday of each month. She sighed in distressed. She hated going to school on a Saturday. In an instant, she was already dashing down the stairs in such a hurry and had breakfast with her family as usual.

"My, my. You're up early again, sweetie." Her mother said as she slowly stroked Lily's soft hair. The girl only replied with a slight nod as she munched on her sandwich. After she was done eating, she waved to her parents and stepped into the limo.

As soon as she arrived, she walked towards the gate and stood there, waiting for Ryo to show up. But up till then, even a speck of hair was not to be seen. Maybe he woke up late? She thought with a troubled mind as she strolled into her classroom.

-----

Ryo couldn't sleep well that night as his muscles and bones were badly aching from the battle he had the day before. He glanced at the clock with a sigh. It showed 8am… he had already missed the first period of class. But he stubbornly forced himself out from bed and prepared himself for school. He didn't want to miss even a day of school for some reasons unknown to him. He held the navy coloured pass in his left hand and walked out of the portal… which leaded him into the school washroom.

"Why did I even bother?" he said to himself and limped into class where the Science teacher was currently teaching.

"Tanaka Ryo," she said as she set down the marker on the table and turned away from the whiteboard. "Why are you late for class? And why are you covered in cuts?" the female teacher stared at Ryo's bruised face with disbelief.

The rest of the students in the class started their tittle-tattle… while Jun and Lily, stared at Ryo in astonishment. The wound in Ryo's right arm was split open once again when he had forced himself up from bed. A crimson liquid was slightly visible on his white shirt since he had forgotten to put on his black jacket.

"I'm taking you to the infirmary now. The rest of you… please be silent until I return." She commanded before walking out of the class with Ryo. Jun shivered in fear at the sentence. Such a harsh teacher…

"Are you alright, Lily-chan?" Ai asked and tilted her head.

"Ah! Yeah… I'm fine!" Lily smiled and continued reading the book she was holding. But then, her mind began to fade away again. What really happened to him when he had left the library?

-----

"Alright, you're all done," The nurse said with a disturbingly huge smile on her face as she faced Ryo. He, however, simply looked away from her and gazed on the nearby window. "I don't know what happened to you, but your opponent must've been taking steroids." she said as she stood up from the chair and walked towards rubbish bin, disposing the excess pieces of bandages away. Ryo raised an eyebrow at the sentence before getting up and headed towards the door.

"Thank you." He bowed to her before leaving the room and headed back into the class.

"What a nice boy. But he is sure a quiet one though."

-----

**10:00am**

Recess time as usual and Ryo stayed in the class, resting his head on the table. The class was silent since everyone had already left, including Lily. But Jun on the other hand, was leaning with his back against the wall with a whole list of questions floating about in his mind.

"Damn it!" Jun slammed his fist on the wall in rage and treaded heavily to Ryo's table. "Why won't you tell me anything, Ryo?!" he snapped. Jun wanted to shake the boy but figured that he shouldn't injure him more than he already is.

"Because…" he started and looked towards the window. "None of this had anything to do with you, J." He said, coldly. This wasn't the first time Jun had gone berserk at him. Since then, he felt that it was normal to him. There were times when Jun just couldn't handle being ignored most of the time.

"It was that jerk, Kenichi… right?" Jun asked, in a lower voice tone this time as he didn't want the other students outside to overhear their conversation. Ryo gave him the short silent treatment as always and shook his head lightly with a sigh. "I just had an accident."

"Don't lie to me. You're bad at lying… and as far as I know… You're not a clumsy person either." Jun finally gave up on his questions and walked towards the door. But before taking a step out, he turned his vision back to Ryo. "Sorry about… just now. I get it, I shouldn't interfere."

Ryo was totally alone in the classroom by then. He wondered about Kenichi. The nurse had told him that Kenichi was missing from class ever since that last fight he had with him. Did he run away? Or did something bad happen to him?

-----

**12:00pm**

Classes on a Saturday ended much earlier than usual. After school, Lily walked up to Ryo who was leaning against the gate and took her time to stare at his weak body.

"What happened to you?" that was the first question she wanted to ask as soon as she saw him in class but since Ryo seemed like he was in a foul mood, she had decided to save her questions 'till after school.

Ryo stayed silent for a moment but then a quick thought came into his mind and soon, he was smiling at her and took her hand, heading towards the park. She was confused at his sudden behavior but at the same time, she felt happy to be by his side. They headed towards the park, talking, chatting, laughing and sharing their thoughts on the way.

-----

"It's time for us to strike again!" one of the trio Imagins spat and bumped his head onto the hard solid brick wall. "We almost killed him! If it weren't for that stupid whistling noise…"

"YOU TWO ARE AS USELESS AS EVER!" the leader snapped at the two with such a rage that the nearby mirror almost broke itself into pieces.

"Why are you blaming us?! You had the chance!"

"Now get down there and finish him off! Before I finish you two off!" he ordered and disappeared into one of their bodies, ignoring his clone's question.

"Sorry boss…" the two apologized as they bowed at each other and jumped off the building, flying towards the park where Ryo and Lily were, using their powerful nose as their tracking device. When they landed on the ground, they started sniffing and barking at each step. By then, Ryo had already dragged Lily into a nearby bush to take cover.

"Not them again…" Ryo sighed. "Let's go." He said to Lily and nodded. She, on the other hand, gave a weak nod and followed him unquestioningly. He slowly crawled out from the bush and ran towards the other direction with Lily behind him. But soon, one of the Imagins spotted them and started chasing the couple madly.

"Damn… we can't go on like this." he continued running with the girl behind him. Lucky for him, a taxi was nearby. He ran towards it and shoved Lily inside, immediately shutting the door tightly with a thud. "Head home." he said to her and ran towards the park once more. The driver drove off as soon as he saw the creatures from afar.

"Ryo-chan!"

-----

Ryo transformed into Kaze… But after a long fight, he was worn out once more as the Imagins kept attacking him viciously. He was overpowered by them.

"What's wrong?" one of them laughed. "The famous rider, all weaked out."

They prepared one final blow at Kaze but soon, they were interrupted by a yellow ball of light which entered Kaze's body without warning. Loads of sand began pouring out from his armor.

Inside however, Ryo had already blacked out from the sudden entrance of the strange light. But his body was still moving somehow. Kaze's head snapped up and stood up, facing the trio Imagins. His index finger slowly moved towards the navy blue button which had mysteriously appeared beside the buckle and pressed it. A strange and creepy whistle was heard.

"GLAIVE FORM!" a new word was announced by the belt as the previous armor disappeared. New pieces of armor hovered around the rider as it started to take its place, mainly replacing the blue 'V' shaped symbol on his mask with a navy coloured '#'.

"What's going on??" one of them shouted in terror.

"This is not the way to fight," A deep voice replied to the Imagin from beneath the armor. "A true warrior would not continue to fight an injured opponent."

"What the heck are you talking about?!" the leader couldn't control his anger anymore and dashed towards the rider, aiming his claw attack at the armored figure's chest. But it was evaded easily and countered with a strong punch. The Imagin fell on the ground and groaned in pain. The other two stared at each other and turned back to the rider.

"As for me… Never retreat from a battle… That is the main rule for a warrior." the rider took a deep breath. "Especially when someone is in the need for help."

"Stop talking and fight… NOW!" the leader commanded and prepared himself for another attack against the seemingly 'new' rider.

"I'm sorry, but you must face the punishment for breaking one of the rules." The voice inside the armor replied and raised his hand. The navy pass appeared in his grip as he swiped the pass onto the belt buckle.

"FULL CHARGE!" the belt announced and streams of navy coloured energy began to appear around his hands. Immense amount of web began to shoot out from the palm of his hands and in an instant, the trio was caught tied up together by the strong and sticky web. With a powerful tug, the rope-like web began to tighten itself and very soon, the imagins exploded into pieces.

The rider took another deep breath and turned away, wanting to leave from the area. But an odd sound from the area caught his attention. There was a sudden explosion and soon, a creature which looked like a giant mutated bird emerged from the flames.

"This isn't good." The rider exclaimed and took cover as soon as the creature started to shoot giant needle-like objects at him.

A strange creepy tune from before could be heard once more as the Kaze-Liner appeared itself out from a portal in the sky and drove itself closer to the rider. The front train car was replaced by a navy coloured spider themed car. Without hesitation, the rider jumped into one of the opened train doors and wandered inside, looking for the main control room.

As soon as he was inside, he got onto the bike and inserted the pass into the slot, pressing the red button which was positioned close to the slot and causing the second part of the train to open up. A large cannon-like weapon emerged from it and targeted the creature. It soon began to charge itself before releasing vast amounts of spider-like bombs at the creature, exploding upon contact. The creature exploded into pieces as the train headed back into the portal and into and the Sands of Time...


	6. Chapter 6: Imagins are the enemies of

**Note: Well, to make things fun, I posted a few pictures of my OC in OrderofZeronos (I don't own the pictures of course. But it'll help you to imagine what my OC MIGHT look like). Obviously, I can't post them here using image links (I think?). So, feel free to visit the site if you're curious :P and sorry it took so long for me to post this chapter up ^^" Been kinda busy lately... with some exam works. Have fun reading :3**

**Chapter 6: Imagins are enemies of the human race?**

**Saturday 10 January, 2009. 10:43pm**

Lily was seen lying on her bed, but doesn't mean she was sleeping at that moment. She felt worried about Ryo ever since he had left her and headed back towards the park alone.

_Is he alright? Why did he do that? Is he still alive? _Those words continued to ring about in her mind as she stared blankly at the white ceiling, deep in thought and concerned. "Ah… I totally forgot about sports day today…" Once again, her mind showed a flashback of that incident. She sighed with her eyes firmly closed and prayed for his safety. "Please be alright…"

-----

Ryo lay motionlessly on the soft bed inside the navy time train. A few hours earlier ago, a strange being had entered his body and battled against the vicious trio imagins. But… Ryo had no idea what happened right after he had blacked out during the battle.

Moments later, he was back into his fully conscious state and looked around his surroundings, with an uneasy feeling. "Wait… how did I ended up back here?" he said as he forced himself up from the bed but the pain in his chest stung him painfully and he was forced to lie back down. _What happened?_ his mind was totally blocked up by a number of questions floating about in his mind. Everything was a blur to him and he badly wanted to get some straight answers… even though he had no idea where to get it from.

"Do you not remember?" an unknown voice replied to him as the figure entered the room with a set of towels neatly folded in his hands. Ryo immediately sat up from the bed as soon as he saw the figure; an evil imagin… or so he thought. Before he could even move his hand over to his pocket to grab his pass, he already felt a weak sensation going through his nerves and he was forced to lie down once more with a groan.

"What do you want with me? And how did you get in here?" Ryo shot glares at the figure. The Imagin, which looked similar to that of a spider-themed humanoid creature, bowed to him and gently placed the towels onto the bed-side table.

"I am your Imagin."

"Say what?" Ryo's eyes widened, entirely shocked at the sentence, "You're joking, right?"

"Certainly not," The imagin replied and took hold on one of the towels and immersed it into the warm water inside the metal bowl. After that, he walked towards the bed and laid the wet towel onto Ryo's cold forehead. "You are injured. Please try not to shift around too much."

"I don't need to listen to you…" Ryo turned his attention back to the figure. "Get out of here and out of my life… now." He answered with such a deep hatred in his voice since really despised those beings, especially after the incident which had leaded him into becoming a rider.

"I would… but unfortunately, I cannot," the imagin bowed again. "I possessed you during your fight with the other three imagins."

"And…?" he waited for the imagin's further explanation.

"The only way I could leave… is by granting a wish that you desire. Without a wish, I will not have a solid body when I am out of this dimension."

Ryo went soundless and shook his head, "Stop with the jokes already! And get the hell out of here!" he shouted and grabbed the damp towel, throwing it onto the wall in anger. The seemingly 'emotionless' imagin merely made another bow before walking out of the room and gently closed the door. "Damn it… what's going to happen to me next?!"

Outside the train, the spider imagin was seen sitting on the soft ground with a clump of sand in his grip... as well as a troubled mind. It had been a while since he last felt something that soft and warm in the palm of his hands. Time travelling was hard for him since he had no other way than to travel physically using the powers he had in the further future.

"It is no wondered that he despises us Imagins…" he said to himself as he gazed upon the strange aura in the sky. He had a special ability to read the minds of the humans and he had gained full access to Ryo's mind when he possessed him earlier during the fight. Inside the boy's mind were filled with sadness, fear, hatred and mostly… blood. The crimson blood which belonged to his dear mother. Joy and happiness only came in last when it was necessary for him. The imagin was deeply concern for the boy as he sat there, deep in thought… trying to find a way to aid him.

Seconds later, a faint sound of footsteps could be heard as he turned his head back to look at the arriving person; Ryo himself.

"Listen, I want to live a normal life as a high school teenager… and the only way to do it is by getting rid of you first." Ryo crossed his arms, ignoring the further pain in his limbs. "I will be keeping this pass as it is the only way for me to destroy every Imagin alive here." He said as he waved his pass in the air.

"Ryo-sama," the imagin started, "Some of us imagins' are not wicked like the others."

"How the hell did you know my name… and don't give me such a lame reason. All the unknown creatures which have appeared out of the blues and destroyed the city, killing innocent lives… are the enemies of the human race," The humanoid spider imagin simply hung his head in defeat at the answer. "First, a wish. Then, the battle begins."

But before Ryo could even continue his talk, he had sensed another Imagin somewhere in the city. He turned his attention back at the figure in front of him before proceeding to head towards the city through the nearby portal. The imagin only stood there and watch as Ryo disappeared into it in a hurry.

-----

It was already pass midnight but the people in the city were still wide awake. The civilians screeched in fright as soon as they saw the horrible looking imagin right before their very eyes.

"Muahahaha! This is fun!" an alligator-like creature laughed joyfully as he crashed onto the building with his powerful shoulder, causing some parts of the building to collapse. He continued to ram onto the building until it began to fall into pieces. But, before he could continue, a solid punch was aimed at his head and he fell onto his rough back with a loud 'OW'

"D-damn…" Ryo cursed as he held his right arm in pain. _This Imagin has a really tough body_, he thought. He wasn't fully healed at that moment since he had only rested for a few hours inside the train and he blamed that navy imagin that he confronted.

"Why did you do that for?!" the imagin scolded the boy and pointed at him with his index finger. "You made me mad!" he said again and stomped his right foot hard on the ground. The effects caused the ground to shake madly in the area, damaging a few plants at the same time. But fortunately, Ryo wasn't affected by it.

"And, you just failed." Ryo said and took out his pass from his pocket, swiping it onto the belt buckle. "Let me see your strength that lies within your spirit…"

"SABER FORM!" the robotic voice inside the belt announced and Ryo was instantly covered in the blue armor, switching into his battle stance.

"Huh?" the imagin tilted his head to one side as he stared at the seemingly odd looking rider.

Ryo was starting to feel the pain in his chest once more as he stood there. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea to fight while he was still injured, but it was already too late. The alligator imagin rammed himself onto the rider and aimed a combo of punches.

At last, Kaze was thrown hard against the wall by the creature. Overpowered once again. "Ahahaha! You're worst than a still doll!" the imagin insulted and prepared himself for another attack. As Kaze struggled to balance himself to stand…

"_Please, let me handle this!"_ A voice echoed inside Ryo's mind as he continued to focus on the rampaging imagin.

"_I told you to leave me alone!" _Ryo yelled in his mind.

"_At this rate, you will die in just seconds!"_

"_Why do you care about me anyway?!"_ The voice never replied to him and he was starting to get really irritated by him. "Ah! Damn it!" Ryo gripped his fist in rage and quickly pressed the navy button on the belt.

"GLAIVE FORM!" the current armor disappeared while the new pieces of armor hovered around Kaze before positioning itself onto his body. The imagin stared blankly at the new form.

"What are you suppose to be now??"

"Never retreat from a battle..." Kaze GF raised his head. "That is the main rule for a warrior."

"Nonsense!" the imagin backed away and dashed forward towards the rider, laughing madly at the same time. Kaze GF hurriedly grabbed the pieces of the gasher from each side of his belt and assembled it into a large glaive. When the dashing imagin was close, Kaze GF lifted his weapon over to his side and slashed horizontally at his opponent. The alligator imagin fell onto his back and held his chest.

"Ahh! You're lucky I have an appointment with the uhhh… doctor!" the imagin fled away from area and jumped into the river, swimming away at an amazing speed. Kaze stood there and moved his hand over to his belt to remove it, instantly changing him back to his human form. Without further hesitation, he marched straight to the nearest door he could find and ended up in the Sands of Time once again.

"Come out where I can see you!" Ryo commanded as he held the pass tightly in his grip. The area was silent for a few seconds before the he repeated his words again. The spider imagin popped his head out of the door and slowly walked out of it, heading over to Ryo's side.

"Is there a problem?" the imagin asked and waited for the boy to explode at him.

"I'm," Ryo started and gripped the pass harder. "Sorry…"

In the next second, the imagin became entirely dumbfounded. He never expected the boy to even apologize to him at that moment. "Why?"

"Don't ask why," Ryo answered and stuffed the pass into his pocket. "Now tell me your name."

"I… do not have a name…" the imagin hung his head and bowed. Ryo cocked an eyebrow and crossed his arms in disbelief.

"Are you serious?" Ryo shook his head and sighed. "Alright, I'll think of a name for you," Ryo gazed at the imagin's body and went into a deep thought. The theme pattern on his body does seem familiar to him. "Okay, from now on, you'll be known as Tsuchi… since your image seems awfully similar to that Tsuchigumo story I've heard before when I was a kid."

"Tsuchi?" the imagin moved his index finger over to his chin before giving another deep bow to Ryo.

"Don't… do that," Ryo sighed. "I'm not really used to that kind of stuff."

"But, Ryo-sama. This is the way I express my gratitude to you."

"Do as you like then," The boy sighed again before limping into the train. The imagin, which was now named as Tsuchi, stood there with an 'invisible' smile on his face before taking a step forward towards the train. As soon as Ryo entered one of the rooms inside, he took a seat on one of the benches, which was slightly covered in a layer of dust. Even though Ryo was the type of person who cared about cleanliness, it had been a while since he had last cleaned the place up due to his recent injuries. "Care to tell me a few things about those so-called 'Imagin' creatures?"

Tsuchi nodded his head, "We imagins… travel from a distant future to change the past."

"By changing the past… you mean 'destroy', right?" Ryo rested his back onto the bench as he was starting to feel the pain again. _I just wish humans could heal faster…_

"Yes, though I cannot remember what our purpose was… and to be honest, I find it quite ridiculous."

"Hmm…" Ryo thought again. _Why couldn't Tsuchi remember anything about it? Was that the price he had to pay for travelling to the past?_

"Once we reach our destination, we are to possess the fragile human beings here on Earth." Tsuchi continued and sat down on the bench with his hands set neatly on his lap.

"Possess?" Ryo asked, dumbly. _No way… there's no such thing as these 'possess' stuff here! _It was hard for him to accept it since he never believed in anything related to ghosts.

"And once we do, we are to offer our hosts' a wish. Once the wish has been granted, we will travel yet again to the past through our hosts' most cherished memories.

"I don't understand…" he crossed his arms and looked at the floor. _I really don't._

"You will, once you witness it with your own eyes."

"Well? Is that all?"

"There are some humans here who are born as 'Singularity Points'," Ryo turned to him, staring questionably at his imagin at the same time, "Singularity points are able to exist out of their own time… and you… are one of them," Once more, the young boy was in confusion. Maybe Tsuchi explained far too much for his mind to keep in track. "For example, if your time has been destroyed by our kind, you would be unaffected, thus exist in your physical form with your memories unharmed and intact."

Ryo shook his head hard, "What about your part of the story?"

"Well, I was human before… until all of this happened," Tsuchi sighed this time and stood up. Ryo turned to him, regretting that he ever brought the subject up in the first place since he had grown to like his imagin... in just a few minutes. Tsuchi realized the boy's sudden change in emotion and decided to drop the topic, scratching the back of his neck at the same time. "I think that's enough for today. It's really late and you should be heading to bed now, Ryo-sama."

"Alright," the tired boy replied and headed towards the automated door, "Goodnight." He waved his hand and walked through.

-----

An evil laugh echoed in the city as the creature jumped down from the tall building with a straw basket in his hand.

"Time to go!"

-----

**4.36am**

Ryo was seen sleeping soundly in bed. It had been a pretty hard day for him and his weak body couldn't resist the soft bed that was waiting for him in that room.

Tsuchi, however, didn't sleep that night because he was busy cleaning the room which looked something like a canteen. But after a few sweeps, he stopped and settled the broom against the wall… sensing an imagin rampaging somewhere in the city.

"He has returned… but." Tsuchi couldn't leave the time train since Ryo had never asked a wish from him. Thus, he only had a soft body made of sand and that… wasn't a good thing at all. A thought came to his mind and he walked into Ryo's room quietly, not wanting to wake the boy up from his sleep.

"I am sorry, Ryo-sama." He bowed and possessed Ryo's body. The boy's eyes instantly changed and glowed bright blue. He stood up from the bed; his hair neatly combed back with a faint blue streak of hair on the left side and seemingly dressed in a butler-type of suit. He brushed the imaginary dust off his shoulder before heading out the door…

-----

"Now-" the creature's voice was cut off and he was thrown onto the bench, causing it to break it into pieces. "WHO THE HELL?!"

"It seems that you have turned into an uncontrollable creature," T-Ryo taunted. "Shall I end this?"

"It's too late now!" the alligator dashed away, heading to the nearby restaurant while T-Ryo ran after him as fast his legs could carry him. The creature was the first to enter the restaurant by breaking through the windows before heading straight to one of the frightened chefs, dropping the basket onto the floor. The cover of the basket flung open, exposing a few packets of cheese inside. "Contract… COMPLETED!" he snapped his fingers and in an instant, the body of the person seemed to have split into half, exposing a green portal leading to an unknown area. Without hesitation, the imagin dived into the portal before it person's body began to close up once more.

T-Ryo arrived into the restaurant… only to discover that the imagin had already travelled into the past a few seconds ago. _If only I was here sooner…_

He walked over to the remaining chef as the others had already fled away to a safe place, taking out a blank ticket from his pocket as he held it close to the man's head. The ticket glowed bright white before it died down, revealing the alligator imagin's image, followed by a date to which the creature had travelled to.

"14th March, 2005. What happened during this time?" T-Ryo asked.

The chef took a moment to think before his eyes turned back to T-Ryo's, "That day, was the day I had entered the western cuisine cooking competition," A shed of tear began to flow out from his right eyes, "But I lost… because I added… butter instead of cheese into the food."

"Sorry… and thank you." T-Ryo held out his hand and patted the man's shoulder with a smile before he stood up and inserted the ticket into the Rider Pass.

-----

**=PAST=**

**14 March, 2005. 2:35pm**

The same man from before was seen standing in between the five contestants as they waited for the judges to finish their speeches. But all of a sudden, sand began to pour out from his body as he collapsed face-down onto the hard floor. The imagin crawled out from the man's body before dashing out from the building through the nearby window. Strangely enough, the other people who witnessed the whole incident didn't seem to be surprised at all and continued listening to the speech. The man stood up once more and shook his head groggily.

In the other side of the city…

"Finally, it's show time!" a large green sword which looked like an alligator's tail appeared in his grip and started slashing the cars into half, "I'll turn this pathetic city into ashes!"

"Halt!"

"Huh?" the imagin lowered his weapon over to his side and turned to the source of the somewhat 'familiar' voice. He staggered aback in shock as he gazed upon the arrival of the navy Rider, "YOU AGAIN?!"

"Never retreat from a battle… that is the main rule for a warrior." That was the only reply the imagin gotten right after a punch was thrown onto his face. The imagin stood up once more and started flooding combo attacks against his opponent. But, Kaze GF managed to avoid all of his attacks and finally, countered with a high kick towards the creature's face.

"I'm sorry, but you must face the punishment for breaking one of the rules." Tsuchi replied within the mask and held the pass in front of his belt buckle before swiping it.

"FULL CHARGE!" streams of navy coloured energy began to appear around his arms before an immense amount of web began shooting out from the palm of his hands. The alligator couldn't avoid the trap and was tied up from head to toe by the sticky web. With a powerful tug, the rope-like web began to tighten itself.

"NO!" the imagin shouted before he exploded into pieces.

With a satisfied huff, the rider moved his hand over to his belt and loosened it, transforming him back to his human form. He held his pass in his right hand and walked towards the door, attempting to leave from the area. But a sudden thought came into his mind and he froze in his tracks before running back to the building where the cooking competition was held. He stood outside the nearby window and watched.

Obviously, it had already started and the man was already half way preparing the meal. Fortunately for T-Ryo, the chef hadn't used the butter and cheese which was set beside him on the table.

"Yosh!" the man said before his hand moved over and grabbed the butter. Without further hesitation, T-Ryo closed his eyes.

"Butter…" T-Ryo murmured in his mind and the message was sent into the man's mind. His eyes widened as he took a closer look at the ingredient he was holding before setting it down once more with a gasp. T-Ryo smiled before walking away towards the door and into the Sands of Time…

**Short bio:**

**Name: Tanaka Ryo**

**Appearance: The image I posted**

**Voice: Decided to use Zero from Vampire Knight as his voice XD**

**Attitude: He is cool, calm and a shy person, especially when he's around with girls. He talks in a normal school boy type of way.  
**

**-----**

**Name: Tsuchi**

**Appearance: It will be stated in this chapter**

**Voice: Third from Keitai Sousakan 7, since his attitude seems kinda similar  
**

**Attitude: Talks in a formal way. He is a loyal and a kind-hearted imagin.**

**-----**

**Name: Hanazawa Lily**

**Appearance: The image I posted  
**

**Voice: Yuuki from Vampire Knight (I'm a fan of this anime/manga XD Please don't kill me LOL)**

**Attitude: Uhh... I'll leave it to you guys ;)  
**

**-----**

**Name: Kisaragi Jun**

**Appearance: The image I posted**

**Voice: KOF's Soiree Meira**

**Attitude: An easy-going, playful, talkative person who is rarely seen in an angry mood.**

**Note: Kekekeke! I'm crazy sometimes, but it doesn't hurt to have extra info xD  
**


	7. Chapter 7: A new threat

**Note: Arggg... been so busy lately. But anyway, here's a new chapter! I had fun writing this one xD Though, I had a few grammar problems. Please, forgive me *bows like Deneb***

**I'd like to thank Ryu from OrderofZeronos for giving me idea of the story :3  
**

**Chapter 7:- A new threat**

**Monday 12 January, 2009. 6:00am**

In the Sands of Time, it is another morning for school as usual and Ryo started by easing his eyelids open after his long slumber. Even though he had a long sleep, he still felt roughly tired as if he was fighting with an Imagin that night… which was certainly true as Tsuchi had taken control of his body while he was asleep in bed.

_Damn, my body aches as hell. Was I sleep walking or something?_ he asked in his mind, not expecting an answer or anything as he slowly crawled out of bed, heading towards the washroom… which was really something that could irritate him as much as that annoying boy from school, Kenichi. That was because the washroom was located in the fourth car of the time train and Ryo's bedroom is currently located in the second car, which was quite a distance as the time train was really gigantic.

"Good morning, Ryo-sama," the friendly imagin butler greeted the groggy boy as he continued to wipe the windows with a wet cloth. "How are you this morning?"

"Pretty bad… I think I was fighting in a battle field in my dream…" he replied with a yawn and scratched his head.

"Umm, about that…" Tsuchi turned around and faced the boy. "There was an imagin rampaging in the city while you were asleep. So-"

Tsuchi's words were cut off, "No wonder. Why didn't you just wake me up or something?"

The spider imagin went silent and bowed to the boy in apology. He possessed him that night because he didn't want to disturb the boy's peaceful sleep. But Tsuchi couldn't bring himself to tell him that… since it was also part of his 'rule book'. Ryo simply shook his head with a sigh and rested his hand on Tsuchi's left shoulder.

"It's alright." That was all he said before he headed out of the door and left the imagin standing there with an unpleasant feeling.

"Is… he angry?"

-----

Back at the Hanazawa's, Lily jumped out of bed as soon as she heard her alarm clock ringing discreetly beside her head. She felt joyful that she woken up early again and headed into the bathroom to prepare herself for another day of school. After she was fully dressed in her uniform, she dashed down the stairs and greeted her parents.

"Good morning!" she said with a smile as she sat down on the dining chair with a slight yawn. Her mother handed her a slice of jam toast and smiled.

"It's good to see you up as early as a bird." Her father complimented her as he took a sip of his cup of hot coffee. Lily only replied with a nod before her smile disappeared from her face.

"What's wrong?" her mother asked, concerned. Normally her daughter would be in a cheerful mood every single morning. But somehow, today was an exception.

"Ah! I'm fine! Just worried… about school!" She answered with a lie… as she was actually worried about Ryo's current condition. _No, snap out of it! I can't keep thinking about him all the time!_

-----

**6:30am**

Ryo was already in class by then, lazily browsing through his History book, page by page. He hated history lessons the most but he didn't have a choice since it was a compulsory subject for him and the others. Jun however, wasn't studying at that particular moment. Instead, he was reading a magazine that he bought a few days back from the book store.

"Hey, Ryo! You goin' for the hiking trip this Wednesday?" Jun asked as he flipped another page of the magazine. The said boy could only turn to him, staring at the same time with a puzzled look. Jun laughed at the other boy's reaction as he dumped his magazine into his bag, "Haha! I knew you'd give me that look. You didn't show up for Sports Day on Saturday. The teacher announced about this hiking trip to us when we were there… and don't even think about skipping this one or you'll have some trouble with the head teacher."

Ryo sighed in disgust as he hated participating in those school activities, even though he was quite good in them. "Alright, fine. I'll go."

"Yahoo! I win!" Jun clapped to himself and took out a piece of printed paper from his drawer, handing it to Ryo with a smirk on his face, "Read this. It shows a list of items that you need to bring, the time of the trip and all those yeah, stuffs."

"Alright…" Ryo stared at one of the sentences. "Cell phones are not allowed…"

"You know, Kenichi's back." Jun added as he leaned onto his seat, "Guess he caught the flu a few days ago."

Ryo went silent for a few moments… before he spotted a figure standing outside the door. It was Lily. He gave a huff of relief to see that she was fine. She was also happy to see Ryo sitting there at the back seat and hurriedly walked over to him. Questions filled her mind but she couldn't decide as to which she wanted to know first.

"Ryo-chan! I'm glad to see that you're alright!" her semi-loud voice caught the other student's attention and Ryo… could only nod with a shy look on his face as the blonde-haired girl smiled at him. "I'll see you later?" She finally said before walking to her seat and sat down, taking out her own book to read. She wanted to have a longer talk with him, but felt that it wasn't the right time to do so. There were many other students inside the class as well and she didn't want any more gossips to come flying around her.

Ryo glanced at her once again. _She looks cute when she's worried._ As the day goes by, his feelings for her somehow became stronger than usual and no matter how much he wanted to hide it from her, one day, it will escape from him anyway.

"_Ryo-sama, do you like her?"_ a familiar voice was heard in Ryo's mind. His eyes widened in shock as he never expected his imagin to reply or to even be inside his body at that very moment.

"_What are you doing?"_ Ryo asked with an irritated look on his face but the voice never replied, much to his annoyance. _"Get out of my body. What if someone sees us? Especially me!"_

"As you wish, Ryo-sama." Tsuchi's ghost form returned to the time train and he continued cleaning the area.

After a short while, Ai was the next person to enter the class as she headed straight to her seat next to Lily's. "Lily-chan, are you going for the hiking trip this Wednesday?"

"Hiking trip?" Lily asked, dumbly. Ai knew that would be Lily's response and continued with her talk. "Oh! Sure, I'll go!"

Ai was delighted and gave Lily a light hug, "I'm sure Ryo-chan will come too." She continued as her eyes were set towards Ryo. That was her 'signal'.

Lily looked up to her with a slight glow in her glossy eyes, "Eh? Are you sure?"

Ai simply giggled delightfully and sat down with another smile on her face, "You're too easy to figure out."

-----

**10:00am**

It was now recess time and Ryo was seen in the class with Lily standing by the window beside him. She skipped recess because she wasn't very hungry at that moment and also because she wanted to have a little chat with him. In the end, both of them actually had a nice long talk together.

"About the hiking…" Lily asked, nervously rubbing her neck. "Are you going?"

"Sure," that was his decent reply to her before he decided to change the subject. "Are you up for it?" he continued, with a teasing smirk on his face. She giggled in reply and smiled.

"Of course! I love the outdoors."

"Then it's settled."

-----

**Wednesday 14 January, 2009. 4:00am**

Two days had passed in a blink of eye for them and finally, it was time for the hiking trip and the students were entitled to wake up early that very morning since it was a 2 hour long trip to the mountain.

Ryo however, wasn't feeling happy at that very morning, though he was never happy about the trip in the first place. As a matter of fact, he felt so weak and really exhausted. On the day before, he had to fight off two imagins who were madly destroying the park with all their might. The fight lasted for almost four hours since he they were pretty tough for him to handle, even with his faithful imagin around to aid him.

Ryo slowly walked out of his bedroom and into the canteen. He could smell the food cooking in the kitchen stove and he saw his imagin, cleaning windows.

"Tsuchi, I think you should take some time off." He said with a concerned voice. Tsuchi was injured during the battle as well, though he tried his best to not show it to Ryo. Up till then, the boy blamed himself for not being able to handle such a 'simple' fight until his imagin had to enter the battle field in person.

Tsuchi gazed at the bandage which was wrapped neatly around his arm before lifting his head up to face Ryo once again, "It's alright, Ryo-sama. I'm just-"

"Tsuchi," Ryo interrupted the imagin's words with his arms crossed against his chest. Tsuchi laid the wet cloth on the table and sat down on the bench, obediently. "I'll be doing all the cooking after this. Just make sure you rest until you're fit again."

"Of course, Ryo-sama."

-----

"AH CHOO!" Lily sneezed and it instantly woke her up from her deep slumber. It would appear that she had caught the cold and it was something that she really hated. It was the day of the hiking trip and she had to fall sick on the very same day. She yawned as she crawled out of the bed and put on her bunny slippers. She glanced over to her bag pack, which was greatly filled with the necessary items she needed for her trip.

Moments later, she had her early breakfast… without her parents with her this time since it was still 4am in the morning. Her parents were usually up around 6am for breakfast.

"At least they're not here to see me. Daddy surely won't let me go!"

-----

In another place, a ball of light hovered above the city and headed into one of the office buildings, secretly possessing one of the female clerks there.

-----

**7:03am**

Everyone was gathered in front of the main gate as they patiently waited for their bus to arrive. Jun was seen together with the other girls, while Kenichi was seen leaning against the lamppost with a seemingly evil smirk on his face.

For Lily however, the morning air was quite cold and it made her shiver and sneezed involuntarily. "Lucky I brought my jacket… ah choo!" she sneezed again as she took out her pink sweater from her bag pack and quickly put it on. She felt warm for a while before she started feeling chilly again. The other students took a quick look at her out of curiosity before continuing with their normal chats.

As soon as she saw Ryo walking towards the group, she walked over to him with a concerned look on her face. "You seem tired today. Hadn't had a nice sleep?"

"Guess so…" he paused for a moment and turned to her. "Actually, I should be the one asking you the questions."

She wanted to sneeze again but she hurriedly lifted her hands and covered her face, almost blushing in the process. "What do you mean?"

"You should be resting at home…"

"I don't wanna miss this trip. Like I said, I love the outdoors!" she replied, slightly shaking her head and didn't move her hands away from her face.

Ryo gently felt her forehead with the back of his right hand. It was slightly warm and he knew that the fever was coming to attack her, very soon. "But the outdoors doesn't love you somehow…" he said, trying not to offend her in any way and swiftly took out a packet of tissues from his pocket. "You'll need this."

"Thank you~" She smiled a warm smile and took a piece, covering her nose with it. She was worried, however. If the teacher knew she was sick, he would cancel the whole trip altogether and all of the students would have to return home. _Why did I have to get sick today! Why! Why! Why!_

Few moments after that, the bus finally arrived and took a stop a few meters away from the group.

-----

After a 2-hour long road trip, the bus finally arrived at the area and stopped somewhere beside the main road. The teacher took his time to explain about the plans. The students were filled with excitement and they couldn't wait to get off the bus to feel the fresh morning air.

_No! No! No! _Lily tried her best not to sneeze again and turned her head away to the window, staring at the long grass.

Ryo, who was sitting beside her, looked at her and felt her forehead once more. "The fever is rising… are you sure you want to go for it?" She turned to him and nodded rapidly with a pout. He finally gave up and sighed, shaking his head. _She's a tough one to handle…_

What they didn't know… an imagin was hiding inside the engine of the bus the whole time, waiting for the right moment to get out and follow them into the forest.

-----

The groups of students were separated into two groups as they hiked up the mountain and into the forest with the teacher walking in front to lead them all the way. The air in the forest were pretty much different from the city's… no pollution and no dust. That was for sure.

"Hey, Ryo…" Jun walked beside the boy at an even pace, "Don't you find Ken's attitude… a little strange today?"

"Isn't he always like that?" Ryo asked in return and turned his head to the said boy. Kenichi was staring at the sky with an empty mind.

"Of course not! See that!"

"Whatever… not that I care anyway." Ryo replied, uninterested. Jun also gazed at Kenichi before he walked away with a shrug, talking to the other girls again.

"Ken?" Lily asked Ryo as she was actually beside him the whole time. "Your friend?"

"Just some guy I know… an annoying one."

"Hooo… I see… ah choo!" she sneezed and covered her nose with another piece of tissue. Ryo was starting to get worried as her normal face colour was beginning to turn into a light rose colour from the rising heat.

"Hey, J! We're taking a short rest here. Go on without us." Ryo called out.

"But… the teacher said-"

"Don't worry. We'll catch up."

"Fine. We'll be waiting for you, Ryo!" the group continued walking towards their destination.

"But… Ryo-chan…" Lily turned to him with a depressing look on her face this time. He smiled to her and offered to carry her heavy bag pack.

The two rested under a big tree for a few minutes. Ryo was also tired. His legs felt as if it was going to break out of fatigue. _This is why I hate going for long trips…_ he murmured and closed his eyes for a few moments, feeling the soft wind blowing against his damp face.

"It's… so cold here…" even with her sweater on, she still felt as cold as before and shivered once again. Ryo turned to her and took out his jacket from his bag and laid it over her shoulders.

"I hope this'll help a bit."

"Thank you," She was grateful to have someone so kind with her at that moment. "We should get going now or we'll get lost." Ryo nodded and helped her up. As the two were going to continue with their hike, Ryo stopped in his tracks and looked around, anxiously. Lily looked at him, both surprised and slightly worried.

_An Imagin is here… but how?!_ He was entirely shocked at that very moment. Even the forest wasn't safe from the attacks of the imagins. Without further hesitation, he quickly grabbed Lily's hand and started running towards other direction. She began to feel worried about his sudden reaction.

"Ryo-chan! Why are we-"

Her voice was cut off as soon as she heard, "BOO!" the imagin with an image of an iguana jumped from a tree and landed in front of the two. "It's nice to finally meet you in person, Kaze!"

Ryo's eyes widened in astonishment as soon as he heard the word 'Kaze'. _He'll blow my cover! Damn it! _He replied, "Who the hell are you?"

"Aw, you don't know?" he walked closer, but Ryo simply moved over to the left to escape. "And where do you think you're going?!" the imagin blocked his way. Lily was shocked as well and wanted to scream, but somehow she couldn't. Ryo didn't reply to the creature and simply gave a thrust kick towards its stomach, causing it to fall hard on its back since the creature never expected a kick from the boy. Ryo ran with her once more through another path, not wanting the girl beside him harmed by the dangerous being. "Ouch! You damn brat!" the creature started his chase.

_This is bad…_ Ryo said in his mind, trying to figure a way out of the forest. But everything there seemed the same for him no matter where he turned to. _Damn! Even a map is useless in here._

"Oh no you don't!" the imagin shouted and lifted both of his arms, revealing a few sets of sharp and large scales on his skin. He spreaded his arms wide and swung his arms around, letting the scales fling everywhere. It exploded on impact, causing some of the weak trees to collapse and burn itself to the ground.

A few pieces of it were heading towards the couple as they began to run at a faster pace. Ryo felt that it would be too late if they were to continue running from the attack, so he pushed Lily out of harm's way, causing the scales to head towards him this time. Fortunately, he managed to block it with his arm and the scale stabbed into his skin instead of his eyes. As for Lily, after the strong push from Ryo, she headed towards the edge of the hill before falling down from it.

"AAHHH!"

"No!" Ryo ran towards the edge and jumped down the hill, trying to catch her as they both rolled down.

"Damn it, hell no!" the imagin cursed at her saw the two rolling down the hill. "I'll find them…! I will!"

Success. Ryo managed to catch her and both of them landed hard on the ground with some minor injuries, but at the very least, she wasn't hurt that much. "Are you alright?" he asked as he gently brushed the dry leaves and straws off her soft hair.

"Yeah… I think so." She replied, panting hard as if she had some sort of asthma attack. She was starting to feel weak from the fever she was having. She tried to stand but a sharp pain ran through her nerves and she was forced to sit down once more with a whimper. There was a deep cut in her left calf and it was caused by the sharp twigs and roots when she fell down from the hill earlier on.

Ryo noticed the wound and crouched down beside her, ripping his sleeve and forming it into some sort of a bandage and wrapped it around her left leg. After he was done, he stood up again and brushed the dirt of his uniform.

"What about… you?" she asked, referring his wound that he had gotten from the imagin. It was badly bleeding. He lifted his arm and forcefully pulled the scale of his skin, throwing it onto the ground with a groan.

"This is nothing…"he replied, not worrying about his own condition. _Damn… now we're lost! If that imagin hadn't interrupted us…_ he blamed himself for the whole incident. _This wouldn't have happened if I hadn't come for the trip…_

_What if it's poisonous?_ She gasped. But then she shook her head, clearing off her mind from any negative thoughts.

Ryo observed his surroundings. "We need to get out of here before that thing comes back and attack us again…"

"But… we're lost now. How are we going to find our way out of here?"

Ryo reached into his pocket and caught hold of his pass. But before he pulled it out, a thought came into his mind. _We're out of the city and there's no door here… Damn!_ He realized that the portal would only open if there was some kind of door nearby. But it was impossible to find a door inside a deep forest, so he decided to find another option.

"_Tsuchi! Tsuchi! Can you hear me?"_ There was no reply from his imagin. _He must be sleeping… Never mind. He needs some time off anyway…_

Lily closed her eyes to rest, still panting. After all that running and tumbling, it was obvious that she was really tired out. Ryo turned his attention to her, feeling helpless and useless.

_Why can't I do anything to help her?!_

"It's… alright, Ryo-chan." she answered as if to reply to his question inside his mind. "It's my fault. I'm the one who's dragging you down. I shouldn't have come."

"It's not your fault." He wanted to comfort her, but for some reason, he couldn't find the right words to do so. That really made him even more depressed.

"Peek-a-boo… a wolf has found a flock of sheep…!" a voice echoed throughout the area and caught the couple's attention.

Ryo looked around for a few moments, but then, he already felt a strong pressure pressing against his neck as he faced his enemy in front of him; the iguana imagin. "Ggg… what do you want with us?!"

"Oh… not her. But you!" Ryo only glared at the creature in front of him. "I want…YOUR LIFE!"

A dark figure was seen sitting on a tree branch, swinging his legs back and forth as he watched over the trio with an evil laugh echoing in his mind. "Revenge is bitter and yet… sweet like the honey…"

**=TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT CHAPTER=**

**Note: Nooo! I totally forgot about Kenichi!**

**Short Bio  
**

**Name: Takayama Kenichi**

**Appearance: The image I posted in OZ**

**Voice: *hrm, this is a tough one* Silver the hedgehog! *yes, I realized that Teddy's seiyuu is voicing him too LOL***

**Attitude: A hot-headed punk with an attitude problem. Is pretty arrogant most of the time and tends to get himself into big fights.**


	8. Chapter 8: A new threat p2

**Chapter 8: A new threat Part 2  
**

_**Previously…**_

"_I want…YOUR LIFE!"_

_A dark figure was seen sitting on a tree branch, swinging his legs back and forth as he watched over the trio with an evil laugh echoing in his mind. "Revenge is bitter and yet… sweet like the honey…"_

-----

**12:37pm**

"Get… off …me!" Ryo struggled to free himself from the imagin's hold but to no avail.

"Like I will!" he gripped harder and delivered a punch towards the boy's chest. Ryo choked and cough from the impact of the punch. The world was spinning in his mind and his chest felt heavy. He was finding it hard to breathe. Lily could only watch in horror as the imagin gripped his hands harder against Ryo's throat by each and every minute.

_(I've gotta help him no matter what!) _And with that, she stood up and picked up a huge rock she found nearby and threw it towards the imagin, striking him hard at his back. Lucky for her, it didn't head towards Ryo instead.

"OUCH!" he yelled and released his grip, holding onto his back in pain. "You'll pay for that! You little girl!"

"Lily! Run! Just run and get out of here!" Ryo commanded, coughing at the same time as he aimed and struck a high kick at the creature's head. It fell back onto its head with a loud 'THUMP'.

"But!" Lily badly wanted to run away from the area, but she didn't want to leave Ryo's side. As she tried to stand, she realized that she was already too weak to continue running… and the wound on her left leg did not help one bit.

_(I guess… I have no choice…) _He murmured and moved his right hand into his pocket to reach for his Rider Pass. He wanted his identity as a Kamen Rider to be kept as a secret for as long as he lived, but knowing the current situation at hand, he had no other choice. As soon as he felt the solid plastic surface of the Pass inside his pocket…

"HAIYAH!" a loud voice was heard and before they knew it, the imagin had already fallen onto the ground… again. Ryo turned to see who the attacker was, and instantly, his jaw dropped.

"J! How did you find us?!"

"Hehe!" Jun chuckled. "You can't fool these sharp eyes of mine! Besides, you broke your promise! You said you were gonna catch up with us!" Ryo and Lily could only keep silent as they watched Jun going into a battle trance, turning his attention back to the ugly creature. "Geez man. What the hell is this 'thing' anyway?"

"Don't call me a thing! I'm a living thing created by God itself!"

"You just said you're a 'thing'…" Jun answered, cocking an eyebrow. _(What an idiot)_

"That is all for now." A sudden deep and dark voice echoed throughout the area, obviously belonging to a person unknown to the teenagers. Jun turned his head to look around while Ryo froze in his tracks and released the Pass from his grip inside his pocket. Lily looked around as well, feeling nervous.

"DAMN!" the imagin cursed and clenched his fists in rage. He wanted to kill both the boy and the annoying girl and of course, the boy with an idiot looking smirk on his face. But after hearing that creepy voice from his 'master', he stopped with his plans and could only glare at the group. "You're lucky today. But I'll make sure you die the next time we meet!" he dashed away like lightning.

With those final words from the creature, Ryo slumped against the tree for support. (_Finally, some peace and quiet_) he thought and panted out of fatigue.

"How the hell did all these things happen anyway…?" Jun said as he kneeled beside the speechless girl, examining the wound on her leg. "For now, you guys need some cleaning up! I'll go get help!"

"Thanks… J." Ryo said as Jun got up and sprinted away from the area. He was thankful that Jun showed up to help them. But somehow, he was worried what might have happened next if the voice hadn't commanded the imagin to stop the fight. At last, he finally went unconscious.

-----

"I'll let you go… for now, Kaze." The dark figure stood up on the wooden branch before dashing away from the area like a ninja.

-----

**6.03pm**

"Honey… I'm starting to get worried…" Hanazawa Azumi said to her husband, who was busy reading the newspaper with a pair of square spectacles. He glanced at the nearby clock.

"Same here. She would've been back an hour ago." He continued reading.

"Maybe due to traffic?" she tried to comfort herself by saying that.

"It's possible… this is a city after all." He replied positively, but deep inside, he was also worried about his daughter. Lily was the only child in the family and of course, an overly pampered one. Her parents were always overprotective of her and it made her annoyed at times. But still, she loved her parents all the same without a doubt.

Suddenly, the phone rang discreetly, making the couple jump in shocked. Azumi made her way towards the phone nervously.

"Hello?"

There was a pause before the person answered, "Um, hello? Is this the Hanazawa's?" a voice belonging to a male asked.

"Yes, is there a problem?" now she was beginning to sweat nervously.

"I'm calling you regarding your daughter, Hanazawa Lily. There was an accident during the trip to the forest and she is currently in the hospital for treatment," Azumi's jaw dropped. She wanted to hang up before the man began to speak once more. "Don't worry, it isn't life threatening. But I suggest that you go and pay her a visit."

"Alright, thank you." She answered before putting down the phone, slowly turning to her husband.

"Something… wrong?" Kenta, which is her husband's name, asked with a worried look.

-----

In the hospital, Ryo was seen lying on the bed with a thin white blanket over his body. At least, the room was spacious and he felt a little more comfortable… despite his body aching like he had been to hell. His head, chest and left arm were neatly bandaged to help his wounds recover faster. He closed his eyes for a few moments before drifting off into a deep sleep.

-----

Somewhere in the underground tunnel in the city…

"DAMN IT!" a fist was aimed towards the wall as it crushed into pieces. "WHY DID YOU STOP ME?!"

"Patience…" an unknown voice in the darkness replied in such a cold and creepy tone that it sent shivers down the imagin's spine. "You'll get your turn… soon enough."

"Well I hope so!" he continued pacing back and fourth impatiently.

-----

"Little Ryo~" a feminine voice echoed throughout the place. Ryo opened his eyes… only to see an area totally filled in white. He pondered.

"M-mother…?"Ryo called out. Strangely enough, his voice had no echoing tone.

"Little Ryo~ let's go home~"A faint image of Ayaka, Ryo's deceased mother, appeared before him and held out her gentle hands to him. "Let's go home~"

Ryo held out his left hand in order to reach out to her. But as the seconds went by, the image began to fade away and finally disappeared. He was then totally overwhelmed by the darkness which ate him up into a black hole.

"MOTHER!" Ryo woke up with a start and started panting. His heart was pounding out of the shock he just had and sat up on the bed, looking around the room. It took him a few minutes to realize that it was all just a dream. _(This dream… why is it coming back again?)_

That was certainly not the first time Ryo had a nightmare about his mother. He had many sleepless night as each and every one of the nightmares attacked him, both physically and mentally.

"Ryo-chan! Are you alright?!" Lily stormed in through the door and limped to his side, taking his right hand. Jun followed up and leaned against the wall.

Ryo looked up to her. His eyes were blurry for a moment before it finally cleared up. He looked at her, eyeing the bandage that was wrapped around her right arm.

"I…"

"You alright there, Ryo?" Jun asked. "You gave us quite a fright."

"I'm… fine…" Ryo managed to give a weak reply and shook his head lightly. That strange dream was still bothering him.

"Phew…" Lily let out a sigh of relief. "Feeling any better?"

"I think so."

She smiled as she tucked in the blanket over him. "Then you'd better rest."

"What time is it now…?" Ryo asked. He scanned through the room once more. _(Why isn't there a damn clock in this place?)_

Jun looked at his watch. "It's ten plus right now. I wonder why the time is the first thing you'd ask. You're weird sometimes." He laughed.

"Well? Why are you two still here?" It was Ryo's turn to ask. It was already late at night and he thought that they should be at home sleeping.

"Who knows?" Jun smirked and walked out. Ryo turned to Lily and gave her a puzzled look.

"He just became a hero…" she smiled again. "Since he found us both lost in the forest."

"Is that so…" he sighed. Now that was just being silly he thought.

"Well… since all that happened just now… we don't have to go to school tomorrow."

"I see…" Ryo said with a slight disappointment in his voice tone… though he did feel a little glad that there were no classes on the next day. He was really tired and he would have skipped school on the next day anyway.

That night, Ryo was sitting on the bed with his head turned to the window. Earlier on, Lily's parents came by to take her home. Of course, she gave all sorts of excuse to stay longer with Ryo but they could only give her that worried look until she was forced to go. Very soon, the sliding door opened, revealing the background of the Sands of Time as the figure walked in with a lunchbox in his hand.

"Ryo-sama…"

"I don't want to hear it." Ryo said and turned to his imagin and companion, Tsuchi. "It's not your fault, okay?"

"But still… you would not be like this if I had-"

Ryo interrupted Tsuchi's words, "Like I said. It's not your fault. You were more exhausted than I was… and I couldn't bring myself to wake you up that time."

The imagin stood there without a word. He was deeply touched. He knew that Ryo was actually worried for him despite his cold behavior towards him most of the time. But he realize, as the time went by, their bond began to grow stronger and Ryo was beginning to show his true self to him.

Tsuchi bowed and walked over to the boy, handing the lunchbox. "You missed dinner and I thought I would prepare some for you, Ryo-sama."

"Thanks…" Ryo turned away from him and lied down.

"Is there a problem?" Tsuchi asked. But there was no reply.

-----

**Thursday 15 January, 2009. 4.27am**

Ryo couldn't sleep properly that night, even if the painkiller was still in effect. He thought about the incident in that forest and how the imagin had to leave the place as told by that strange creepy voice.

"Ryo-sama…" Tsuchi approached him.

"What is it?"

"An imagin…" Ryo didn't seem interested at all for some reason. Maybe it was because that confrontation earlier on had left a wound in his pride. "Ryo-sama?"

The room was silent for a few moments before Ryo finally nodded in agreement. Tsuchi bowed and possessed him. Ryo's clothes were replaced by Tsuchi's own unique suit.

(Hopefully this will not hurt him more than he already is…) Tsuchi thought and slowly walked out of the room.

"_Tsuchi… why are you walking so slow?"_ Ryo asked inside his mind.

"_Well… I uhhh…"_

"_Well, in anyway… get out of here quick! Before the nurses sees us! I mean you! No, wait! I mean me!" _Tsuchi started running.

_(I can feel his pain…)_

-----

"DAMN IT!" the iguana imagin smashed one of the cars. "Why do I have to do this kind of thing just to lure that damn Kaze out?!" He leaped onto another car and smashed the windshield into pieces. There was no driver at least. He got off and swung his arm.

"You know, you shouldn't go around destroying public properties." A voice said to him. He stopped walking and looks around.

"Hah! Kaze! You're finally here, huh?!" an invisible smirk appeared on the imagin's face as he stood in position.

"Wrong answer." The voice replied again.

"Wait a minute…"

"Are you really an idiot? Can't you tell the differences in our voices?"

"WHO ARE YOU?! SHOW YOURSELF!" the iguana imagin yelled as he lifted his head to look at the sky. There was a complete silence in the area for a few moments. "HEY! I'm talking to-"

The imagin was struck hard on his head and fell onto the hard concrete right on his face. He stood up and looked around anxiously.

10 minutes later, T-Ryo finally arrived in the city and looked around, confused.

"_I swear I felt the imagin's presence here…"_ Ryo said in his mind.

"Same here… but…" T-Ryo turned his attention over to his right where the sand scattering about on the ground. He walked over to it and kneeled down. It was the remains of the iguana imagin and he wondered what had happened to the creature before the duo had gotten there.

"_Tsuchi!" _Ryo shouted T-Ryo leaped back from the remains as it started clumping together.

"Oh no… he is forming into a-" T-Ryo's words were cut off as the sand formed into a large bull-like creature which was a hundred times bigger than an ordinary human. He quickly ran to the opposite direction as the bull-like creature started chasing him. "Gigandeath…"

"_Tsuchi! What are you waiting for?! Run and transform!"_

"Oh! I apologize!" T-Ryo moved his hand over to his pocket and took out the Rider Pass. The silver belt appeared around his waist as he fastened it in place, swiping the pass over the belt buckle without hesitation.

"GLAIVE FORM!" the belt announced and the particles floated around him. Instantly, he was covered in the silver and black base armor before another armor in navy hovered around him.

"_Hurry!"_ Ryo commanded as the Hell Gigandeath was coming closer. Kaze GF leaped away just in time before the creature trampled over the nearby van.

"I would not want to be as flat as that…" Tsuchi said in a nervous voice. "And I thought I was not suppose to retreat from a battle…" he sighed. Later on, A creepy whistling tune filled the air as the Kaze-Liner drove by the Rider. Kaze GF entered the train, preparing for an attack against the rampaging monster.

He made his way to the main cockpit and got onto the bike, inserting his navy blue Pass into the slot and pressed on the red button. The large cannon emerged from the second part of the train and began shooting a few spider shaped bombs at the creature which exploded upon impact. The train went into a loop and Kaze GF pressed on the button again. The cannon began charging itself and soon, it shot out vast numbers of spider bombs at the monster. It growled before finally exploding.

Kaze GF gripped onto the brakes to stop the train and got off the bike. He walked out and looked at dark sky, still puzzled.

"_What happened to him…?"_ Ryo asked.

"I am guessing you did not know of such a thing."

"_Huh?"_

"Whenever imagins are destroyed or… lose control of themselves, they turn into monsters like that Gigandeath we've encountered…"

"_And I'm guessing you're still hiding something from me."_

"I am sorry, Ryo-sama. I will tell you whenever it is necessary." Kaze GF removed the belt from his waist and transformed back into his human form.

"_Whatever you say…"_ Ryo replied and stayed silent. _(Still… what really happened…?)_

_______________

_Author: I'm REALLY sorry for the long wait! *bows rapidly* I was really busy with my final exams and I couldn't find some free time ^_^" (and it was also because I had the Write's Block... meh. I can tell that no one is interested in reading my fanfic anymore too, LOL). And yeah, the title does seem off for some reason... since I did this in a hurry. Once again, I do apologize for my bad English. The dialogs seems awkward sometimes whenever I read them again and... the sentences, spelling errors... AH! There're just too many things I need to take note of T_T Anyway, stay tuned for the next chapter! I hope... LOL.  
_


	9. Chapter 9: Enter the path of the light

**Chapter 9: Enter the path of the light…**

**16 January, 2009. 7.59am**

"Alright class! Listen up!" the teacher clapped her hands together and it made the other students catch her attention. "We're having a new student today!"

"Great… and what does that have to do with us again?" a boy replied, putting his feet up onto the table with a big yawn.

"I wonder if it'll be a girl…!" Jun said as he slapped Ryo's back, eyes focusing on the door frame. Ryo sighed and knocked his forehead onto the table. Jun was as 'normal' as ever.

"Now let's welcome him!" the teacher cheered. The new student strolled into the class and faced the others with a straight face. He looked normal however, just like all the ordinary students. The only thing about him was that he had a more handsome face and his hair was slightly spiky with a mixture of blonde and brown. But as for his uniform, he left his collar unbuttoned and he did not use a necktie like all the other students. Everyone in class thought of him as another one of those delinquent students.

"It's a guy… oh well…" Jun sat back down with a sigh and took out a book to read. It was a Mathematic book and Ryo, turned to him with an awkward look on his face. As far as he know, Jun was never interested in reading school books why should today be any different?

_(Is that…?)_ Lily blinked and stared. He seemed familiar to her somehow but she couldn't remember where she had seen him before.

The whole class went, "Ooooh." While some or actually, most of the girls went, "He's cute!"

The student bowed slightly with a smile and decided to introduce himself. "I'm Minami Hikari." He gave a slight wink towards Lily. She finally gasped in shock and covered her mouth with her hands.

"It's Hikari-chan!" she whispered to Ai and shook her arm excitedly.

"You know him?" Ai blinked for a few times.

"He used to be my classmate from primary school! But we lost contact after I went to high school…" she had a sad tone in her voice this time as she turned her attention back to the student.

"Alright, please have a seat Hikari-kun. Class will be in session soon." He nodded and took a seat on the right, just next to a girl with a long silky black hair which was tied into a pony tail. She admired him but she couldn't even turn her head to look at him. She was so nervous.

After 3 hours of class, it was finally time for the students to have a break. The whole class was silent again. But it wasn't empty. Ryo stayed back as usual and leaned against his seat, yawning slightly. That goes for Lily as well… since Hikari was still inside the classroom.

"Lily," Hikari started and stood up from his seat, walking towards her table. "You haven't changed since I last met you."

"Aw, is that so?" she blushed for a moment before shaking her head to clear her silly smile away. "Though I'm wondering… why are you here? I thought you-"

"My father is working here again. So, I had to move back to this city as well." Before, Hikari had to move away from Japan with his family to Canada. Obviously, he protested but then gave up and he was forced to leave with his family.

"I see. That's good! There's so much I wanna talk to you about!"

"Lily, I'm heading off first." Ryo said to her before he walked out the door. Lily looked at Ryo. The smile was gone from her face and she felt guilty for ignoring him earlier on. But she couldn't help it. She was so excited about Hikari's return.

"Ryo-chan…"

Hikari glanced at the boy for a few seconds before turning back to Lily. "Your friend?" he asked.

"Ah, yes! My new friend! And I wanna introduce you to my best friend, Ai!" she jumped out of her seat in joy.

He laughed and moved his hand over to pat her head. "And I guess this part of you hasn't changed too. I'm glad."

She blushed again and took his hand to drag him out of the class. He followed obediently without uttering a word.

-----

Ryo was leaning against the wall just beside the door which leaded to the arts and crafts room. There was a lot going about in his mind and that includes the imagin which had been mysteriously killed.

"_Maybe… another Rider? Or…?"_

"_It is a possibility…" _a voice replied in Ryo's mind. He nearly jumped out of shock.

"_Tsuchi… don't do that. What if I get a heart attack?"_ he answered and closed his eyes, slightly annoyed.

"_To be precise, you are still young and-"_

"_Don't start giving me Biology lessons, Tsuchi…"_ Ryo interrupted Tsuchi's words and crossed his arms against his chest.

"_I apologize. Let us continue with our topic."_

"_We had a topic?"_ Ryo asked, slightly puzzled and annoyed.

"_You are not the only Rider around, Ryo-sama."_ Tsuchi's tone became serious. Ryo opened his eyes and turned to look at the sky.

"_So you've met another one then?"_

"_Actually, no. But, there is no other explanation as to how that imagin was killed."_

"_Maybe he was attacked by another of his kind?"_ Ryo said. Tsuchi was silent. _"Alright, enough…"_

-----

"Lily-chan. I'm going ahead, okay? I have to return that book I borrowed from the library." Ai said and stood up from the bench.

"Sure thing! We'll meet in class!" Lily waved goodbye and turned back to Hikari, who was sitting right beside her the whole time.

"Well I guess you have no problem in making friends, right?" he said and smiled.

"Not at all! I think…" she scratched her neck nervously.

"You know… I missed you…" he met her gaze and their eyes locked.

"Same here!" she moved her hand over and messed his hair, giggling away like a young child. She missed doing that and she felt much happier than before.

"And you're still the same Lily I know from five years ago." He laughed again and combed his hair with his fingers.

"Aw come on. Five years isn't that long anyway." She said and swung her legs back and forth. "And I still remember the fun times we had together. You even said you would marry me when we become adults." She laughed. He laughed together with her but then, he stopped and turned away from her. She noticed the sudden change in his behavior.

"I…" he started.

"Something wrong, Hikari-chan? Was it something I said? I'm sorry…" now she had that worried look. He knew about it even if he didn't look at her face at all.

"Oh, it's nothing." He turned back to her with a warm smile. "I should be sorry. I think I'm still sick from that long trip back here."

"Ah! Are you okay?! Do you need some medicine?? Or some-" he moved his finger over to her mouth to hush her and shook his head. She went silent and calmed down.

"You get panic easily… man…" he started laughing again, making her blush.

-----

On the other side of the city, a brown ox imagin was rampaging about on the bridge. He smashed the rails and stomped on the concrete ground in rage.

"COME ON RIDER! SHOW YOURSELF!" he shouted and growled. The other civilians ran as fast they could.

-----

"You must be Tanaka Ryo." A voice was heard and Ryo turned to his right without a word. "Lily kept talking to me about you."

"Is that so?" Ryo replied. He seemed uninterested somehow.

"You can call me Light."

"I thought your name was Hikari." Ryo yawned slightly and closed his eyes, his head looking down to the ground.

"Well, it's the same anyway. Though, I'm used to being called as Light by the others."

"Whatever." Soon, the school bell rang and the students were rushing back into the classrooms.

"Ah, I wanted to have a little talk with you." He started walking away. "But I guess that'll have to wait."

"He's a strange one." Ryo commented to himself and tilted his head.

"_Ryo-sama!"_ Tsuchi suddenly called out to Ryo in his mind.

"I felt it too. An imagin's presence…" Ryo pushed himself off the wall and headed for the boy's washroom with the Rider Pass in his grip.

"_But… class is already starting…"_

"I don't really care." He didn't like to study as well and he figured that skipping a few lessons won't change anything for him. "Now let's go!"

-----

"THAT DAMN RIDER! Why won't he show up?!" the ox imagin shouted again and rammed against one of the pillars. It didn't take long until he was kicked on the head by an unknown figure.

"You know… you imagins are really a nuisance." The voice which belonged to a transformed Ryo said to the imagin.

"FINALLY! How long as you gonna keep me waiting for you?!" the creature stood up with an invisible smirk on his face.

"Oh I'm sorry. Were you expecting me?" Kaze SF assembled his gasher into a pair of sabers. Normally he would use only one of it but from the looks of it, he knew that he needed more than just a saber to actually kill the imagin for good.

"Hahahaha! Come on! Show me what you've got!"

-----

Class was in session and the teacher was currently teaching about Mathematics. Lily felt sleepy and nearly fell off the chair but Ai managed to wake her up by tossing a paper ball at her face.

"Ouch… Ai-chan…" Lily rubbed her face.

"Sorry…" lucky for the two, the teacher didn't notice them and wrote a few letters on the whiteboard. Suddenly, the class heard the sound of the chair being dragged and turned their attention over to Hikari. He bowed.

"Excuse me for a moment." He said before walking out of the classroom. The others started with their usual chatters.

"Hikari-chan?"

-----

"D-damn… it…" Kaze SF said as he held his chest in pain. No matter how many fighting combos Kaze did against the imagin, there wasn't even a scratch visible on its thick skin.

"Awww. Is that it? I thought you were more of a challenge!" He approached the weak rider and gave another blow on his chest, causing Kaze to fall back. The creature walked to him and lifted his right foot with an intention of crushing the Rider's head. But soon, a solid kicked was aimed at him and he was thrown back a few meters away.

"Didn't see that now did you?" the figure landed on the ground with a smirk on his face, brushing the dirt off his shoulder.

"_L-Light?"_ Kaze SF mumbled in his mind and slowly stood up. But he nearly fell again.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU TO INTERFERE?!" the imagin spat and stomped his foot in rage.

"Seems that you can't handle this alone, Ryo." Hikari said, facing the imagin with a smirk on his face. Ryo's eyes widened in shock.

"How did you-"

"How about later, okay? For now, this trash needs to be taken care of." he said and took out a White Pass from his pocket. Kaze SF staggered back.

"_Is that a…?"_

"HEY! DON'T IGNORE ME!" the imagin dashed towards Hikari, but he easily avoided it and kicked the imagin against his back once more.

"Only the light is able overcome the darkness." The belt appeared around his waist.

"Wait, Light! What are you-"

"Hen… shin…" he swiped the pass over the belt buckle.

"DORAN FORM!" a voice with a higher tone than Kaze's announced as the armor began to hover around him. The fully black base covered him before another layer of white armor attached onto it. When the transformation was finally done, the Rider crossed his arms against his chest.

"Another Kaze?!"

"Man you're an idiot. Just like that iguana." Doran said and assembled his gasher into katana.

"Wait, iguana? That means he was the one who killed that guy!" Ryo said as he watched the two from a distance.

"Come on. I don't have all day, you know?"

"Oh you little kid…!" the ox imagin growled and dashed towards him, nailing a powerful punch towards the Rider. Again, it was easily avoided since the imagin lacked speed and agility in turn for his immense strength. Doran ducked and slashed the creature with his weapon and continued by hitting the creature's gut with the blunt end of the katana.

"_He is certainly a warrior…" _Tsuchi said, watching the fight through Ryo's eyes.

"DAMN IT!"

"Is that it?"

"I'll be back! Just you wait! You and that other Kaze!" the ox imagin fled from the area and disappeared around the corner. Doran gave a sigh and leaned against the katana.

"Light…" Kaze SF limped to him, his hand covering his upper right arm. He was injured during that fight with the ox imagin.

Doran turned to Kaze, still in his current position. "What?" Ryo was silent. But then, his next move gave the boy quite a surprise.

"What are you doing?" Kaze SF said as he looked at the tip of the sword which was pointed close to his neck. He did not move, fearing that the weapon might injure his neck.

"The light will only choose one of us." Doran made his attacked and attempted to slash Kaze SF's neck. Lucky for Kaze SF, he managed to duck just in time and leaped to his right.

"Are you crazy?!"

"Do I look like I'm on drugs?" Doran rushes towards Kaze and gave a powerful kick towards Kaze SF's chest which caused the Rider to crash onto the nearby pillar.

"_Ryo-sama!" _Tsuchi shouted.

"_Stay out of this, Tsuchi! I can handle this!" _Ryo stubbornly replied and got back to his feet. But then his knees felt weak and he was forced to kneel down once again. Doran walked closer to him with the katana resting on his shoulder.

"Ouch. Is this the famous Kaze I've been hearing about? I thought you'd put up more of a fight."

"Whose side are you on?"

"I thought it would be pretty obvious." Doran shrugged and pointed the sword at Kaze SF's head. "But one thing's for sure. I'm not on yours."

=TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT CHAPTER=

_Author: To make up for my sudden disappearance, I'm releasing another chapter LOL. Hopefully, I can write another one soon =_= Kamen Rider Doran belongs to an OrderofZeronos member, Mega122. I'd like to thank him for lending me his OC XD_


	10. Chapter 10: Path of the light p2

**Chapter 10: ****Enter the path of the light… Part 2**

**PREVIOUSLY…**

_Doran walked closer to him with the katana resting on his shoulder._

"_Ouch. Is this the famous Kaze I've been hearing about? I thought you'd put up more of a fight."_

"_Whose side are you on?"_

"_I thought it would be pretty obvious." Doran shrugged and pointed the sword at Kaze SF's head. "But one thing's for sure. I'm not on yours."_

-----

"Okay, first Hikari-kun left and now Ryo-kun is missing?" the teacher said, crossing her arms against her chest, annoyed. The class started their gossips again.

"Ryo-chan?" Lily turned around, glancing at Ryo's empty seat.

-----

"Any last words?" Doran said as he raised his katana. Kaze did not give an answer. He was panting out of fatigue and held his wounded arm in pain. "I guess not." Without hesitation, Doran slashed the wind Rider's chest, causing his opponent to fall back with the sparks scattering everywhere.

Finally, Kaze fell unconscious on the ground as Doran began to approach him, attempting to give a fatal blow. He raised his katana again and slashed. But then, something seemed to have stopped him.

"I am not going to let you kill him…" Kaze SF blocked the attack with his saber and stood up weakly. Even if it was Tsuchi in control, Ryo's body was still weak and it affected him as well.

"So you've finally decided to show yourself… imagin." Doran said as he pulled his katana back.

"I am not the only imagin around here."

"And you seem to have some great senses too," He laughed and leaned against his weapon. "But my imagin is not ready to face you yet."

"Why did you do that to Ryo-sama?" Kaze SF asked, tightly gripping the saber for safety, just in case his opponent tries to give him a surprise attack.

"No reasons." Doran gave a yawn. But he was surprised that the imagin would call Ryo as "Ryo-sama".

"I beg your pardon?" he blinked within his helmet, puzzled. He was both surprised and shocked at the Rider's answer.

"Well, I lost interest now, thanks to you." He moved his hand over to his belt, removing it from his waist and instantly transforming him back into his human form. He turned around from the Rider, making another yawn.

"Eh?"

"We'll be late for class if you don't hurry, imagin." He walked away with the Pass in his grip. Kaze SF removed his belt and transformed back into his human form. His face had a few bruises and he was wearing the butler suit again.

T-Ryo sighed and decided not to go back to class, seeing Ryo's current condition. Instead, he took out his Rider Pass and headed off to look for a nearby door.

-----

The final bell rang and most of the students in 3-A had already left the class. Lily was now the only one in class. She took another glance at Ryo's seat. He left his school bag there and Lily decided to stay and wait for Ryo to return. Jun had already left the class at 10am because he was sick, otherwise he would've stayed and waited for Ryo as well. But after a few moments, Hikari entered the class from the battle he had earlier on and looked around.

"Guess I missed the whole class. Oh well." Then, he turned to Lily, surprised. "Lily? Why are you still here? I thought school's over."

"Ummm, I was waiting for Ryo to come back from where ever he is…" she looked down. "I guess he's not coming to take his bag…" he blinked for a few times, thinking that it was pretty silly for her to even wait for the guy.

Hikari knew that Ryo wouldn't show up from the moment he fell unconscious. He had already beaten the hell out of the boy. "Tell you what. Why don't you take his bag and return it on Monday? I'm sure he trusts you enough for that."

"Eh?" she thought about it for a while before she finally nodded with a smile and took Ryo's bag. "Okay!"

"Finally, another smile from you…"

-----

T-Ryo entered the Sand of Time through the floating portal. He turned to his right. His eyes widened in shock.

"It is gone?" he looked around to search for the time train, Kaze-Liner. "But… it could not move without a Rider Pass…"

But very soon, he heard a familiar whistle as the train came down from the portal in the sky and stopped in front of him. He sighed in relief and entered the door. However…

"GOOD AFTERNOON!" a girl's voice greeted him from behind him. T-Ryo nearly fell out of shock but managed to hold onto the door frame for support.

"Excuse me?"

"Eh? Aren't you a passenger?" both of them stared at each other. She was wearing a strange uniform with a white top and a red pair of pants which seemed to be made from a plastic-like fabric, complete with a pair of red gloves on her hand and a matching white hat.

"How did you get in here?" T-Ryo asked. She only gave off a sweet giggle.

"I work here, silly! I'm Yuki!" she took his hand and leaded him into the canteen.

"But, I have never seen you before." He took a seat on the bench. Again, he was puzzled by her sudden arrival.

"Oh, I was a little sick for a few weeks. So the Owner gave me some time off!" she walked to the counter. T-Ryo was speechless for some reason and it took him some time to realize that he was still using Ryo's body.

"Ah! Ryo-sama!" he got out of the boy. Ryo's body went limp and leaned against the wall. The black butler suit he was wearing instantly changed back to Ryo's school uniform. However, his right sleeve was torn and his white shirt had a faint stain of blood from his wounds.

"Make way~" she said as she walked over to the boy with the first aid kit in her hands.

-----

Back at the Hanazawa's, Lily slowly stepped out of the limo, followed by Hikari who agreed to follow her back to her house to help with her homework. He was indeed her childhood friend and he even grew up to be her friendly neighbour for a few years.

"Ah! My parents aren't even home right now…" Lily sighed as she entered the mansion through the main door. "I wanted to see how they would react when they find out that you're back."

"It's alright. I'll be here tonight when they get back from work." He said as he followed her with a laugh. "And I missed your mother's cooking too."

"Oh you." She laughed and headed for the living room.

-----

"He is still unconscious…" Tsuchi said, deeply concerned. He was now inside Ryo's bedroom, just beside Ryo's bed where the boy was.

"I think it's better if we take him to the hospital." Yuki said as she gently dabbed the wounds on Ryo's face with a wet towel. Just a few seconds later, the two heard a faint moan from the boy as he slowly opened his eyes.

"Ryo-sama!"

"What… where am I?" Ryo looked at the ceiling. He wanted to sit up, but realized that he didn't have the strength to do so.

"We have returned to the train…"

"I'm Yuki by the way!" the girl said as she stood up from the chair and waved her hands. Ryo slowly turned to her, staring at the same time.

"Tsuchi… why did you bring a woman in here?" he asked irritably.

"I did not."

"Then why am I staring at one right now? Unless… I'm dead."

"How rude of you," she turned away with a sneer. "I'm the one who runs the canteen here!" There was no reply. She turned around… only to see that he had fallen into a deep sleep. If she was really in a bad mood, she would have roughly shaken him hard.

"I suggest that we give him time to rest." Tsuchi said and walked to the door, holding out his hand. "Ladies first."

-----

6.13pm

"Kyaaa! I hate Mathematics!" Lily shouted and messed her hair up with her hands. Hikari merely blinked at her.

"I thought you were doing fine just a few years ago. Heck, you were even better than me!"

"We're in the last year of high school now! Of course it tends to get harder each year! Kyaaaa!"

"Alright alright. Let's take a break then." He smiled and leaned against his seat, crossing his arms.

"I was hoping you'd say that…" she laid her head onto the table with a sigh, closing her eyes. She felt tired and she even felt like sleeping at that moment.

"_Hikari-kun. There's an imagin."_ A voice suddenly said in the boy's mind as he turned his head around to look at the window.

"I'm right on it." He said. Lily turned to him, puzzled that he was talking to himself.

"Huh?"

"Uhhh… I mean," He stood up from his seat. "I forgot that I had to meet someone. I'll be back in an hour or so."

"Sure! Take your time," She smiled. "And be careful!"

"I will." He ran out in a hurry and headed for the park. Lily yawned and closed her eyes again, falling asleep.

It was getting dark and the ox imagin was seen trampling over a bush of flowers. He growled in rage and took hold of the bench, throwing it at the tree.

"KAZE!" he shouted. "GET OUT HERE AND FIGHT ME!"

"You really need to control your anger. I wonder if you're a lunatic who escaped from the jail cell in the future."

"Kaze the 2nd! I didn't ask for you!"

"You know what? I'm pissed off right now. Not the fact that you lumped me together with that amateur and naive Rider," He took out his Pass and the belt appeared around his waist. "But it's the fact that you had to ruin my study time with my friend."

"Do I look like I care about it??"

"Well you should be. Henshin..." He swiped the pass over the belt buckle.

"DORAN FORM!" With that, he was covered in the white armor.

"I'm not scared of you!" the ox imagin said and dashed to him. Doran managed to give a solid kick to the imagin's gut as it fell back onto the ground. There was a faint crack on the pavement.

"Then I'll make you." Doran said and assembled his weapon into a katana. "Only the light is able to overcome the darkness…"

-----

"An imagin…" Tsuchi murmured and lifted his head. But then, he turned back to Ryo. _(I do not have a solid body… and I certainly cannot possess him. Not when he is like this…)_

"Imagin…" Ryo woke up and struggled to get up. Tsuchi simply pushed him back to the bed.

"Ryo-sama, you need to have a long rest."

"An imagin is destroying the city!" he raised his voice but then he coughed.

"Do not be stubborn like a child," Tsuchi said in a serious voice. The room was silent for a few moments and Ryo finally gave up with a sigh. "And I am sure Hikari-san is already doing his job."

Ryo turned away, clenching his fist. "Don't even say his name. That damn guy…"

-----

"AH!" the imagin was thrown aback and rolled to the side. Doran approached him with the katana resting on his shoulder. "Please! Have mercy!"

"You just said you weren't afraid of me. And now you're begging for mercy like a coward?" he lifted his right foot and stepped on the creature's chest. He raised his weapon, attempting to stab the imagin. But then, he only kicked the imagin away to the side.

"HEY!"

"It'll be too cruel if I did that." he swiped the pass over the belt buckle again.

"FULL CHARGE!" the belt announced and streaks of white energy surrounded his katana.

"This is way better." He said before dashing over to the imagin, slashing a few times before ending the combo with a strong stab which penetrated through the creature's chest. The ox imagin yelled out load before finally exploding.

Doran heaved a sigh, satisfied over the fact that the infuriating imagin was finally gone for good. He turned around, wanting to head back to Lily's house.

"_Be ready."_ The voice suddenly said in his mind.

"Damn it. Why won't he just die?" the sand began clumping together and formed into a giant Gigandeath, which looked like a wasp with a left wing of a bird's and right wing of a bat's. "Really. I thought it would be the Hell Gigandeath." He turned around and scratched his head.

The creature screeched and shot a few giant needles at him.

"Whoa!" he managed to leap away in time and stood up.

"_Focus, Hikari-kun!"_

"Alright alright. You don't have to boss me around." He took out the pass. A sharp whistling tone could be heard in the area as the white train sped by. Doran made a leap and entered the train through the main door, making his way to the main control room. He got on the bike and inserted the Pass into the slot, pressing on the red button.

The second part of the train opened up, revealing a huge weapon which looked similar to a machine gun. Doran controlled the bike and the train went behind the creature. He pressed on the red button again and instantly, the gun charged itself in just a few seconds, rapidly shooting at the creature with a bunch of lasers instead of the normal bullets. The creature dodged a few but ended up having an injured wing. However, it still managed to fly and head for the city.

"Oh no you don't." the train went closer to the creature and went to the left, knocking onto the creature until it fell hard onto the ground. Still, it got up and attempts to attack the train. By then, Doran was starting to get pretty annoyed.

He pressed the red button and held it, causing the machine gun to charge up a little longer than the usual. When he released the button, the gun shot a few homing missiles at the creature. In the end, the creature finally exploded and Doran slowed down the train.

"Finally…" he sighed and jumped out of the train, landing on the ground lightly. He removed the belt from his waist and after he was transformed back into his human form, he quickly glanced at his watch. "Oh damn it's almost 8pm now!"

Hikari rushed back to the mansion. But then another voice echoed in his mind.

"_Don't you find it strange that the imagin's we've recently encountered… never mentioned anything about their contracts?"_

"Heck, maybe they just want to keep it to themselves. Not all of them are those talkative types you know." He finally arrived at the main door. He stopped and blinked for a few times. "I wonder if I'm still welcomed here…" he reached out for the door knob, but then…

Lily happened to open the door at the same time as he left his hand hanging in the air. She stared at him. "Hikari-chan?"

"Uhhh… I'm back?"

"Great! My parents are back too! But of course, I didn't tell them that you're back. It's a surprise." She giggled and took his hand, heading into the house and finally closed the door.

-----

In the cold and dark side of the park, a black figure stood nearby the remains of the imagin.

"Seems that one is just not enough." He said and walked away, disappearing into the shadows.

_Author: Another new chapter :3 seems that I'm releasing these like their a bunch of chocolate bars xD LOL. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy! (Though... this chapter is boring?). Oh yeah, I had to change the main title since... well it couldn't fit LOL. Oh and I did some minor updates =_= sorry I found some mistakes right after I posted this. No worries, it isn't much.  
_


	11. Chapter 11: Pathway to Oblivion

_Author's rambles: Sorry for the EXTREMELY long wait, lol. I'm not much of an essay writer XD and my interest just keeps changing every single day lol. My writing also changes according to my mood. So, you'll find my fics being all cheesy and corny and lame and short and not really interesting at times. But anyway, enjoy! Maybe I'll release another chapter soon too XD._

_Again I'd like to say before I forget again lol._

**Kamen Rider Doran/Minami Hikari** and **Minami Yami** belongs to **Mega122** from **OrderofZeronos** :D

While the Rider's name and concept, **Oblivion**, belongs to **Ryu** from **OrderofZeronos** XD

**(Chapter 11: Pathway to Oblivion)**

Saturday, 17 January 2009.

It was lovely Saturday morning like no other. The day was bright and sunny, even for such a unique place known as the Sands of Time. However, it wasn't as lovely as it turned out to be… for Ryo at least.

He had a rough night. His body ached and every time he felt a slightest bit of pain in his wounds, he would wake up with an irritable groan. On the previous day, he was in a battle with a tough ox imagin and nearly had himself annihilated by Doran, who was the new Rider in the city, if he hadn't been saved by Tsuchi.

Once again, he woke up with a sigh and slowly sat up from the bed, holding his head. He felt extremely sleepy and tired but knowing that if he tried to go back to sleep again, he would just end up waking up in the next minute. A few moments later, a familiar figure in blue walked in through the door with a tray of breakfast in his hands.

"Good morning, Ryo-sama," Tsuchi started as he gently eased the breakfast tray onto the nearby coffee table. "How are you today?"

"Don't even ask," Ryo replied and lied down. "I could barely get some shut eye."

"I am sorry…" Tsuchi bowed. He was concerned about the boy and thought if he should bring him to the hospital for treatment.

"Why are you sorry for? Sometimes, you're a pretty weird guy," He yawned. Tsuchi was silent and stood there without uttering a single word. "What did I say now?"

"I shall take you to the hospital." Tsuchi finally said.

"No way. I'm not even taking a step into that creepy place." Ryo turned away, remembering how "disturbing" the doctor was.

"Why?" Tsuchi asked. By then, he was thinking if he should just possess the boy and head for the hospital himself. Or rather, drag him there.

"I just hate it. Anyway, it's a waste of time," Ryo stood up from the bed. "See? I'm fine."

Tsuchi was dumbfounded as he stared at the boy. He was surprised that Ryo could even have the strength to stand up despite having been injured like that. "But…"

"Don't worry. Just a few days and I'll be back to my old self."

Ryo left the room and entered the canteen. Yuki greeted him cheerfully and of course, loudly, but he only ignored her and continued his way to the bathroom. But as soon as he reached the empty room, he was forced to kneel down due to the overwhelming pain in his body.

"Damn it… this is what I get for being a showoff." He smiled weakly to himself.

* * *

"Ah! Finally a nice sleep! It's been a while!" Lily woke up with a yawn and stretched her arms. Then, she climbed off the bed and headed into the bathroom. "Maybe it's because I'm happy?" she giggled.

* * *

Another part of the Sands Time, parked a white train with a slight faint of yellow streaks. It was known as Doran-Liner, another time train which exists to protect the timeline from any severe changes.

Inside one of the rooms, Hikari was seen lifting 15KG dumbbell with one arm. Since he was a rider, he needed to train himself often and not a day has he missed his important daily trainings. As he sat there, he thought of the words his imagin said that previous night.

"MAYBE…just maybe…they're planning to bring an army to fight against us…" he murmured to himself. Soon, there came a faint knock on the door. Hikari turned his head over to the source and stood up, placing the heavy weight back to the metal shelf. "Come in."

The door opened and a figure in pure white strolled into the room but still stood by the door as it closed behind him. It was Hikari's imagin, known as Radiance. Though, the boy usually calls him by the name "Radi". Radiance had a swan-like appearance and he had a mixture of faint yellow streaks on his body. Unlike Tsuchi, Radiance had a solid body, since Hikari had already made his wish to him.

"There was report of a suspicious looking figure in the city last night." Radiance started. Hikari turned to him, cocking an eyebrow. "I went there, personally, to check up. It was an imagin."

"And?" from his voice, Radiance could tell that Hikari didn't seem very interested in the info. "Imagins are pretty much showing just about everywhere now. It isn't so unusual anymore."

"He went to the outskirts of the city and headed into the forest. But alas, he did nothing and stood there like he was meditating. And he didn't even notice my presence."

"The heck?" the boy took a seat on the chair. "I thought he'd be busy trying to burn the forest, or something..."

"I don't know. But still-"

Radiance was interrupted, "Don't worry about it. We'll find out soon enough." Hikari stood up again and walked out of the door, heading for the canteen. Radiance followed his back.

"Why don't we head for the forest and find out? Since you don't have any school lessons today."

"Radi," the boy stopped and turned around, putting his hand on the imagin's shoulder with a warm smile. "Just 'cause there's no school, doesn't mean I have no plans for today."

Radiance was silent and merely blinked for a few seconds while Hikari took a seat on the bench. "So, you're going out with that girl?"

"She's not "that girl". Her name's Lily, okay? And come on, Radi. It's a freakin' Saturday! I need some fun time." He sighed.

"And abandon your job as a Rider?" Radiance answered strictly, making the boy sigh again and shook his head.

"Why do you have to be so serious sometimes? Maybe you need some time off or get yourself a girlfriend."

"I'm being very serious here, Hikari-kun."

"Well so am I. Besides, I don't remember that being a rider was a job for me. I'm taking a bath." Hikari finally said and walked out of the canteen. He didn't want to continue; otherwise he would have gotten into a big argument. Radiance had always been a serious person, or at least, Imagin, and never takes his task lightly. And that has always bothered the boy.

Radiance's seriousness would always remind Hikari of someone close to him in his family.

* * *

Few moments later, Lily happily strolled out of the bathroom and took a seat right in front of the dressing table. She wore a white silky dress and her wet hair was tied into a bundle with a pink towel.

"Fresh!" she said and grabbed the hair dryer.

"Lily-chan!" a voice called out to her from downstairs.

"Yes mother?" she replied.

"Hikari-chan is here! You had better hurry!" Her eyes widened as she glanced at her clock.

"Oh no! I forgot!" she hurriedly got up and placed the hair dryer back onto the dressing table. "Ack! My hair is still wet!"

Downstairs, Hikari was seen helping Lily's mother to wash the dishes in the kitchen. He had always been a helpful person and Azumi really admired him for that. She even thought of him as her own son. Just as soon as he was done with the dishes, Azumi walked over, meaning to start a conversation with him.

"So where are you staying now, Hikari-chan?" she asked and took a cloth to wipe the dishes dry.

"In an apartment."

"Ooo, with your parents?"

"Actually, I'm staying there alone." He smiled.

"Eh?" she was surprised. "I thought you said that you came to Japan with them?"

"I did. But they are now staying in a different city." Hikari placed the white place gently into the cupboard.

"Why didn't you go with them?" she paused and giggled soon after. "You wanted to see Lily, didn't you?"

"Haha, maybe. But I couldn't go with them anyway. They're too busy and my father agreed to let me stay in this city by myself."

"Oh. Well you could learn how to be independent."

"I'm not a kid anymore…" the boy replied with a laugh.

"Hikari-chan!" a gentle voice could be heard from the living room as the two turned to the door.

"I'll be going now." The boy said, finishing up and washed his hands. Azumi merely nodded with a warm smile as he walked out to meet Lily.

"Let me guess. You woke up late." He said in a playful tone. She only gave a sulk and crossed her arms, turning away from him.

"Blame my clock! It doesn't ring whenever I want it to!" Lily gave a pout.

"Ummm," he started. "I think you just didn't hear it…"

"Well anyway!" she said, ignoring his reply. "Let's go!"

* * *

Back in the canteen of the Kaze-Liner, Ryo was sitting on the bench, leaning against his arm. He felt bored and Yuki's annoying humming didn't help one bit. She cheerfully walked over to him and placed a cup of her strangely-made special coffee blend. Then, she placed the other cup in on Tsuchi's table. Ryo only stared at the cup. The coffee had such a bright blue foam floating on the coffee mixture while Tsuchi's had a darker blue foam.

"It's poison. The horrible aroma. I could even tell from a mile away." The boy said and pushed the cup away, nearly throwing up and laid his head on the table. Tsuchi thought it looked fine until he took a sip of it…

"It is wonderful…" the imagin said with a nod. Yuki cheered and skipped back to the counter.

"YAY! Another perfect blend!" she took out another cup. "Since you don't like that one, I'll just make a plain coffee for you, Ryo-chan!"

"I don't drink coffee for your info." Ryo replied with his head covered by his arms.

* * *

Since it was a Saturday, the mall was completely packed with shoppers. Hikari and Lily were seen sitting on the nearby bench which faced the DVD shop, each holding a cup of smoothie in their hand. At first, Hikari was watching one of the televisions. But then, he turned to Lily and blinked.

"Something bothering you?" he asked. It took her a few seconds to realize that he was actually talking to her.

"Eh? AH! It's nothing!" she took a big sip of her smoothie. The boy merely gave a slight frown.

"Don't lie to me…" he said in a serious face. Lily finally gave up and settled the cup beside her.

"I'm worried about Ryo-chan…" she looked down at her feet.

"He should be fine." Hikari gave a straight reply. "He's a guy, remember?"

"…that's not what I meant…" Lily giggled. "I mean, he left his bag in the class."

"I'm sure he had something important to do. You'll see him Monday. I'm sure of it." He winked at her.

Lily blushed and pushed him away lightly.

"Whoa!" Hikari stood up and laughed. "So, where to?"

"Shopping!" Hikari nearly fell over.

"I don't understand women…" he said with a teasing smile.

"And I don't understand men." Lily giggled and made a run for it. "Catch me if you can!"

"Oh, I will!" he took off and chased after her. Even though he felt like a little kid playing around in the mall, it wouldn't hurt to have some fun once in a while. "_It's not like we're getting younger anyway."

* * *

_

"Tsuchi, I'm heading for the park. See ya." Ryo said and put on his black leather jacket before heading towards the automated door of the time train.

"Wait, Ryo-sama!" Tsuchi called to him as he paused and turned around.

"What?"

"Are you sure you are going to be fine?" the concerned imagin asked.

"Of course." Ryo gave a simple reply before heading out and the door shut itself behind him, leaving Tsuchi standing there.

"_I shall watch over him."_ He nodded to himself in confidence.

* * *

"Hey, Hikari-chan."

"Hm? What is it?" the boy asked as he turned to her. They were now in the park, enjoying the open air and cooling off in the windy breeze that blew over them.

"I haven't seen your brother ever since you came here though. He didn't follow you?" Lily asked, blinking in confusion like a little kid. Hikari thought it was cute for moment. "Well, it's not like I want him to be here or anything."

Lily remembered how annoying Hikari's brother was, with all his annoying pranks and such. He even confessed to her. She didn't even know whether he was serious or just fooling around with her. Remembering that just sent shivers down her spine.

"About him…" he turned away from her as she tilted her head. Lily noticed his sudden change of emotion.

"Something…wrong?"

There was a slight pause before he took a deep breath and answered briefly, "Road accident."

Another pause and Lily felt the tension in the air.

"Oh my God. Is he going to be alright?"

He turned away, "He's already gone."

"I-I'm sorry…I didn't-"

"It's fine. As much as I hated him and well, we may not get along most of the time- okay, maybe all the time. But…he's still my brother." He said with a forced smile, remembering how the days were like with his annoying brother around.

Minami Yami would often tease him and blame him for every little thing he did and didn't do. Hikari hated him so much, even his parents. He felt that they never loved him at all and they were only paying more attention to him just recently, right after his brother was gone. That's because Hikari was the only one left in the family and they had high hopes of him taking over the family business.

Lily smiled a warm smile to him and tugged on his arm cheerfully. "And you're still the nice little boy I know."

For a moment, there was a faint blush on Hikari's face as he shook it off. "I'm not a kid anymore."

* * *

Ryo took a slow walk across the bridge before finally arriving at the park. The gentle breeze blew against his hair as he ruffled it for a little, slightly annoyed that his hair is being messed up by the wind. He felt his body aching, but it wasn't as worse as that morning.

"_Maybe I should get up earlier next time."_ He thought to himself as he brushed passed a man.

Then, Ryo stopped in his track and looked down at his feet. He noticed that there was a trail of fine sand as his eye slowly followed the trail, which led him to the man wearing a white coat, similar to a doctor's coat.

"Stop right there, imagin." He said dangerously and took his stance. The figure stopped as he was told and smiled an evil smile, turning around to reveal a smirk on his face.

"Your blood smells good."

"_What is he nuts?"_ Ryo thought and took out his pass from his pocket.

"Mind if I extract it from you?" the man's smirk changed into an evil grin as he got closer. Ryo was starting to shift uncomfortably.

"Okay, that's enough, you psycho." the rider belt appeared around the boy's waist as he quickly swiped the pass over the belt buckle.

"Henshin." He said and soon after, Ryo was in a blue armor and began assembling the gasher into a pair of sabers. "Forget the damned quotes. I'm pissed."

Without a moment to waste, Kaze made a quick dash towards the man for an attack. However, he stopped just as the saber was close to the man's neck.

"What are you waiting for, imagin? Get outta there now." Ryo said in a dangerously low voice tone.

"Not unless I get some blood." He smirked again. For a moment there, Ryo was going to slice the man's throat out of rage, but seeing the current situation, he could only step back.

"Don't annoy me. Get. Out. Now."

"Well, I'm going to." The man taunted before he bolted off, leaving Kaze dumbfounded.

"Why I outta…" Kaze ran after him as fast as he could, but somehow, the man was running like an athlete. No, faster than your average athlete. "What the hell!"

"_Ryo-sama! I shall help you!"_ Tsuchi said within Ryo's mind. The boy only shook his head as he continued running.

"_It's fine. I'll handle this myself."_

Just when the man thought he'd lost Kaze, he stopped for a quick rest and soon noticed that there was a couple sitting on the bench on his right. His thirst for blood began rising again.

"We'd better head back now…" Lily said as she got up and stretched her arms. Hikari slowly stood up and looked around.

"Strangely, we're the only ones left here." He scratched his head. "Oh well, shall we head home?"

"Hai~" Lily replied cheerfully as usual.

But as soon as Lily was about to take her first step, she felt her body being pulled back and felt a strong pressure on her arm as she screamed.

"Hikari-chan?" she opened her eyes to see that Hikari was now standing in front of her. She moved over to the side and saw that there was a strange mosquito-like creature in front of them. Earlier on, the imagin left the man's body and leaped over, attempting to attack Lily. But of course, Hikari was faster than that.

Not long after that, Kaze dashed over and stood behind the imagin, holding the saber close to its neck. "So it's no wonder you're crazy about blood."

Lily blinked. _It's him again!_

"Oh, it's you again." Hikari started, obviously talking to Kaze. "What? Imagin too tough for you?"

Kaze took the insult and remained silent for a moment, since he was focusing on the imagin to make sure it doesn't try to run off again. Lily stared at the group, sinking. She had no idea what they were talking about. But it would appear that Hikari knew the knight in the blue armor somehow.

"Well, what do you think you're doing?" Kaze replied steadily to Hikari.

"Enjoying the outdoors." Hikari gave a simple reply, which kinda annoyed Ryo in a way. Lily was getting more and more puzzled with each second. In a way, Hikari was trying to cover up his identity from Lily. And Ryo too, didn't intend to reveal anything about Hikari to her, since everything related to imagins and stuff will eventually lead back to him.

"HEY! I'm still here 'ya know?" the creature spat in annoyance.

"Shut up." Kaze stepped on the creature's foot hard enough to make him scream.

"_Huwaa, that's gotta hurt…"_ Lily thought to herself.

"Run for it." Before Lily had the chance to even nod, Hikari had already dragged her along with him. As soon as the two were out of site, Kaze swiftly slashed the imagin's back and made a thrust kick, sending it sprawling to the ground.

"I'll have the pleasure of tearing your body apart, limb from limb." Kaze said, retaining his irritated tone as he stepped closer. The imagin knew that the rider was probably going insane.

"Come on. If you lose, I'll have the pleasure of drinking your fresh and warm blood."

"…that's just nasty…" Kaze said, slightly shivering. "And I thought zombies were gross."

"Stop blaberrin' and let's get on it!" the imagin shouted and made his move.

* * *

"Um, could you slow down a bit?" Lily said breathlessly and Hikari quickly released her hand from his grip.

"Sorry about that." He said as they both arrived at the parking lot where the limo was. Hikari opened the door and waited for Lily to step in. "God, I think I left my hat in the park."

"Eh? But-"

Hikari continued, completely cutting her off, "Lily, why don't you head back first? Your mother told me that you have to be home before 5." He shut the door tightly and made a hand sign towards the driver. The driver then nodded before the limo headed off, turning to the junction. Hikari turned around and dashed back for the park with a sigh.

"But…" Lily wondered as she leaned against her arm. "Hikari-chan wasn't even wearing a hat…"

* * *

The imagin dashed around at such a speed that Kaze thought the creature was almost invisible. In the next second, the mosquito imagin re-appeared behind him as he grabbed hold of Kaze's hands, locking them both together with his. Kaze's sabers dropped to the ground as the rider struggled to get lose but to no avail.

"_Ryo-sama!"_

"_I can handle this!"_ Ryo stubbornly answered.

"Ohoho."

"What are you-"

The creature interrupted, "I'm the impatient type, you know?" Ryo could hear irritating buzzing noises coming from the creature as he struggled again.

"Don't even try." Kaze warned. He knew that the imagin was going to start taking his blood if he doesn't find a way to escape soon.

"Wonder what your blood tastes like?" the mosquito imagin's proboscis grew longer.

But before he even had the chance to take a single drop of blood, there was an explosion and both Kaze and the imagin were engulfed in flames and thrown back from the impact. As Kaze struggled to get up to one knee, he looked around before noticing the pure white armor standing just a few meters away from him.

"How lame." Doran exclaimed to Kaze as he walked closer to the imagin, resting the sword on his shoulder. "Just 2 minutes without me and you're already having problems with a tiny little insect."

"Who'are you callin' an insect?" the imagin got up straight and dashed towards Doran for a quick claw slash. But Doran was way faster than that and easily dodged the attack and countered by slicing the imagin's arm off with his sword. The creature fell to the ground, screaming and cursing in pain.

"Hmph…" Kaze stood up slowly. "Then you finish him off."

"With pleasure." Doran replied almost instantly and turned his head back towards the imagin. "Only the light is able to overcome the darkness."

"You'll pay for that!" the imagin cursed again and tried to stand, but he failed miserably and was forced back to the ground.

"No, you owe me. I was having a nice time here in the park with my friend." Doran dashed closer to it with the sword tightly gripped in his hand. "You do not want to mess with me when I'm in a foul mood."

"_Now wasn't he the one who tried messing with me first_?" Ryo thought to himself and sighed for a bit.

As Doran got closer, the imagin summoned all his strength left to back away from him. "Get…away!"

"_Wait, Hikari. Aren't you going a bit too far?"_ Radiance said in Hikari's mind. But the boy wasn't stopping at all and completely ignored him.

"There's no mercy left for you. And there wasn't even any in the first place." A white pass appeared in the rider's grip as he swiftly swiped it against the belt buckle.

"FULL CHARGE!" streaks of white electrical charges began to surround his weapon.

"NO!" without hesitation, Doran stabbed the creature hard on his chest with his weapon and swiftly pulled it out once again before slicing the imagin's body, ending the attack in an explosion.

"Alright, now I'm satisfied." The white rider scoffed at the remains of the imagin and lifted his weapon, resting it on his shoulder and turned back to Kaze. "Now, where were we?"

"Don't tell me-" Kaze bent down to grab his sabers.

"Heh, you can't even handle an imagin. What makes you think you can handle this job as a rider? Like I said, only one rider is enough in this city." Doran made a quick dash, disappearing and re-appearing as he got closer to Kaze.

Fortunately, Kaze managed to respond in time and blocked the slash with his weapons and the impact forced him back just a few inches.

"Stop it, Light! I don't want to fight you!" the blue rider said, summoning all his strength push the sword back from grazing his neck.

"And you have no right to call me Light." Doran replied, speaking in English this time. Ryo was slightly surprised by his pronunciation. It was perfect.

"What are you, an American?" Ryo replied in English too. Hikari scoffed. He didn't think the boy could converse in English as well, plus, he also had that perfect pronunciation.

"Think again." Doran said, reverting back to Japanese this time and pushed the rider back. He saw an opening and managed to slash Kaze on his chest. "I'll make sure you won't ever see the light again."

"Hmph, don't get too cocky."

"_Hikari, stop."_ Radiance said again. But Hikari just ignored him again and shut him out.

The fight went on for a few moments and very soon, Kaze began to slow down due to lack of sleep, taking most of the attacks from Doran. However, Doran was also losing his energy. He had used most of it with that mosquito imagin.

"_Ryo-sama! I will take over!"_ Tsuchi said in a worried tone.

"_No, Tsuchi. This is my fight now."_

The navy blue imagin sighed and gave up, replying steadily,_ "I understand."_

"What's wrong? I haven't even broken a sweat." Hikari said confidently within his helmet. Though, he was also panting out of exhaustion.

"Shut up." Kaze said again and darted towards the white rider in an effort to throw another wave slash.

But suddenly, a dark ball of energy headed for the two riders and both were sent flying back towards the fountain nearby from the strong energy blast.

"Ugh, what the hell was that?" Doran mumbled as he stood up, appearing to be unharmed as he wiped the water off his visor. Kaze coughed and scrambled to his feet, leaning against his saber for support.

"_I'm pretty sure that didn't come from him…"_ Ryo thought to himself as he turned to Doran. The white rider looked around the deserted park. He didn't realize that the fight had lasted for so long until it was already dark out.

"Get out here and show yourself." Hikari demanded and stepped out of the fountain, resting the sword on his shoulder again. Kaze stood beside him and looked around, still coughing. What Doran didn't realize was that Kaze had taken most of the attack, since he was the one who pushed him out of harm's way. Of course, Ryo wasn't going to tell him that. He knew the boy was still "insane" in a way and talking to him would just make the matter worse.

After a few seconds of silence, a dark figure in a black armor stepped out of the shadows, facing the two as he clapped his hands. Ryo's eyes widened in astonishment. The black rider had a really similar armor to Doran's, just different in color. But to add, the armor also had a few streaks of silver patterns, to which Doran doesn't, and his visor was completely different and more "demonic" like.

"It's no wonder I smelled something familiar…and rotten." Hikari said both in a playful and dangerous tone.

"And so we meet again, Doran." The figure said and walked closer. The two riders backed away slowly and steadily as they held their weapons in front of them, preparing themselves just in case the figure would try to attack them.

"And I'm pleased to finally meet you in person, Kaze." The figure then turned to the said rider, slightly bowing his head in attempt to show some "respect".

"Who the heck are you?" Ryo spat.

"I am Oblivion, the one and only rider who could control the darkness that overwhelms this city." The figure said in an arrogant voice tone.

"Alright, screw that." Doran took a step forward. "Why are you here? Hadn't had enough last time we met?"

"Actually, I'm here to pay you back," Oblivion approached the white rider and lifted his hand, patting the rider's shoulder. Hikari jerked slightly from the sudden movement before the dark rider continued his sentence. "My brother."

_**=TO BE CONTINUED=**_


	12. Chapter 12: Pathway to Oblivion p2

_Author's rambles: Sorry again for the REALLY REALLY EXTREMELY LONG wait. _ I've been pretty busy with schools and stuff, even during the holidays "OTL. But I just hope you enjoy this chapter! Though, it might be a little boring, since it's kinda long. I know some, or all of you, might have to read the previous chapter just to remember what the hell is going on with this story, LOL. Sorry! ^^" Hopefully, I can release another new chapter soon, before I start going to school again, 'orz.  
_

_Disclaimer: I noticed I never wrote this before. Okay then it's time to say it! I do not own Kamen Rider at all. And I also don't own the concept, story and motif of Kamen Rider Den-O. The only thing I own is the time and effort I spent writing this story, the characters and everything else that's written in this fic. _

_Kamen Rider Doran/Minami Hikari, Radiance and Minami Yami belongs to Mega122 from OrderofZeronos. While the Rider's name and concept, Oblivion, belongs to Ryu from OrderofZeronos._

_02 Aug 2011 edit: I've altered some parts of the story since I realized that the previous version was a little... strange. Don't worry though, it's a minor update.  
_

**(Chapter 12: Pathway to Oblivion, part 2)**

_Previously:-_

"_Who the heck are you?" Ryo spat._

"_I am Oblivion, the one and only rider who could control the darkness that overwhelms this city." The figure said in an arrogant voice tone._

"_Alright, screw that." Doran took a step forward. "Why are you here? Hadn't had enough the last time we met?"_

"_Actually, I'm here to pay you back," Oblivion approached the white rider and lifted his hand, patting the rider's shoulder. Hikari jerked slightly from the sudden movement before the dark rider continued his sentence. "My brother."_

* * *

"Heh, brother?" Oblivion's words left Hikari puzzled. "I don't remember having _you_ as a brother. Besides, I'd pity the poor guy for having one like you."

Though apparently, the boy didn't quite understand why the figure said the word "brother " to him and just brushed it off his mind. Kaze stood there. He was puzzled as well. And he wanted to step in and fight against the figure. But the Ryo didn't dare interrupt the two, seeing the current situation.

"Let me knock some sense into you."

Oblivion took one step back and quickly assembled his gasher, forming it into a sword which was quite similar to Doran's. However, he wasn't quite finished yet. He reached into his holder on the side of the belt and took out a strange chip before inserting it into a slot somewhere beneath the handle.

Unexpectedly, streaks of electricity appeared and enveloped the sword as it tripled in size and began to give off a dark and evil glow.

"Some minor upgrades," Oblivion chuckled to himself.

Kaze was stunned, but the other side of him was impressed somehow.

"Okay, enough fooling around," Doran said in a pissed tone. That figure was starting to annoy him in a way. But he couldn't figure out why.

Without a moment to waste, Doran made his first move and dashed over to Oblivion, aiming for a slash, but it was evaded and the rider reappeared behind him, holding the sword close to his neck with an invisible grin.

"Nice move there. _Buuuuut_, it's just not good enough. Wanna try again? I'll give you a second chance." Oblivion said playfully and stepped back, drawing the sword back as Doran turned around.

"Less talk and more fighting," he stepped back and dashed forward and managed to slash Oblivion's chest. The black rider staggered back, but it wasn't _too_ painful. He only brushed the imaginary dust off his chest, meaning to say that the attack barely scratched him. By that time, Doran was fuming with anger.

Again, the fight lasted for some time and next, Doran was seen leaning against the nearby tree for support as he dropped his weapon, panting from exhaustion. Oblivion took a step closer before pausing.

"Don't worry. I haven't forgotten about _you_," Oblivion said and turned his head back to see Kaze standing by the street light.

_Oh crap. Not good._

Kaze thought and tightened the weapon in his grip. In an instant, the black rider disappeared, leaving a stunned Kaze as he wondered and looked around aimlessly.

_Damn it! Where'd he go?_

"Over _here_," A voice whispered, as if replying to Ryo. The rider appeared behind him, giving such a powerful and electrical slash until the boy was force out of the transformation. Ryo collapsed onto the ground without a word. He was slowly drifting into an unconscious state – however, he forced himself to one knee, using all the strength he had left to stay awake.

"Ryo! Are you alright!" Hikari called out to him. The boy turned to the white rider, still panting and slightly puzzled. Now why did he care whether he was fine or not? Just a moment ago, Doran was busy trying to destroy Kaze with all his might. But suddenly, he changed?

The boy only nodded in return and turned his focus back to the dark rider in front of him.

"Okay, I'm done with you for now," Oblivion said briefly and grabbed hold of one of Kaze's saber and dashed back to Doran, holding the saber close to his neck while his own weapon was on his other hand, readily by Doran's chest.

"What are you trying to do?" Doran asked, glaring at the rider within his helmet.

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret now would it?"

"Then what is it!" he said in a louder voice. Doran could faintly feel the blade of the saber slicing the skin off his throat.

"But as I've said, I'm here to pay you back," Oblivion said as he moved closer.

* * *

_Just a week ago, Hikari travelled to the past to stop a rampaging Imagins from destroying the city. But just as soon as he was done, he spotted a black rider in the middle of the crowd. And before he knew it, the rider started slashing every single person in the crowd. Doran watched in horror as the rider finished by wiping the sword, which was covered in fresh blood, onto the remaining victim's shirt._

"_H-H-H…" the boy stuttered in shock as he stared at the black knight._

"_Hm? What were you gonna say?" the black rider said to him as he kneeled down close to the boy. The boy fell unconscious and collapsed on the soft grass. "Well, whatever."_

_As the rider raised his weapon for a fatal stab, Doran had already jumped into battle and knocked his weapon away to one side. The little boy woke up and took that chance to slip away._

"_What the heck do you think you're doing?" Doran said dangerously. Oblivion could only wipe the blood off the chin of his helmet .Obviously, it wasn't his blood._

"_Stabbing people?" he responded and crossed his arms against his chest._

"_You're a rider! Aren't you suppose to kill the Imagins instead!"_

"_Not just any rider. I am Oblivion. Anyway, we're free to do whatever we want. No one said that this power was made for killing Imagins," Oblivion replied in a cool manner. _

_Doran couldn't stand to hear anymore nonsense and prepared his attacks. The fight went on for hours and Doran had already switched with Radiance. From the looks of it, one could already tell that the battle will end in a draw. Both riders were equally strong, yet equally weak at some points. Like the color; black and white._

_In the end though, Doran managed to inflict some damage to Oblivion's armor with a powerful slash. The rider only staggered back before he decided to escape from the battle and left the area, leaving a bewildered Doran cursing to himself._

* * *

"Didn't think you were the type to look for revenge," Doran insulted. The rider merely gave a scoff.

"Well, back to business," Oblivion was smirking within his helmet. "How are your parents?"

"My parents? What about them?" Doran said, puzzled.

"The Minami family,"

The boy's eyes widened from shock. How could he know about his identity? "If you lay a single finger on them, I swear I'll-"

"Hm? I thought you hated them?" he said, cutting short of the boy's words.

Now this triggered a familiar memory in Hikari's mind, "Okay, if you want to kill me, just get the hell on with it! I'll fight you to the end."

"Oh, no. I'll do it next time. Slowly and _painfully_. But for now, I'm gonna have some fun playing with you," Oblivion whispered to him. Doran struggled to get loose, but the blade managed to graze his neck. The sudden pain forced him to freeze in place and his heartbeat began to increase.

_Damn it!_

Hikari cursed before he heard a cough. Then, from the corner of his eyes, he saw Ryo collapsing back onto the hard ground, completely unconscious. The boy also noticed a trail of blood from the corner Ryo's mouth.

_We'll have to worry about him later._

But of course, Hikari knew that Ryo was still breathing and gave a quick sigh of relief.

_There's a lunatic on the loose and he's just right in front of me…_

"I can't believe you forgot about me though," Oblivion said as he looked towards the city. "Your one… and only brother,"

"My brother's dead! And he's _not_ coming back!" Hikari corrected. Though, he was slightly hurt from his own words.

"Oh, _is he?"_ the rider asked and turned to look at Ryo for a short moment.

"And why the hell are you asking me all this!" Hikari yelled. Oblivion turned back to him.

"3 years ago. _Minami Yami. _Argument with his little brother. Remember?" The white rider held his breath, slightly shocked.

_What does he know so much! This can't be him… maybe this rider just happened to be there during the incident…_

"Then, the argument slowly changed into a brutal fight. Parents came to stop them, but from then on, Yami turned against them as well." He paused for a moment. "'_To hell with everything. I'm not going take over the family business and I can assure you that I won't be back to visit your grave for the next. Few. Years.'_"

"_Y-You…"_

Oblivion continued in a playful tone this time, "After that, he grabbed his keys to his stunning _black Porche_ and entered the car, slamming the door before speeding off to the highway."

Silence filled the air and the two riders could only hear a faint noise of a dog barking nearby.

"You can guess what happened next,"

"The accident…" Hikari muttered and Oblivion nodded.

"Bingo! And the remains of the car were scattered everywhere on the road and there was a pool of blood, blah blah blah. The end,"

"Why is it that you _know_… so much about me…?"

"Forgot what I said earlier on? _'I'm here to pay you back, my little brother'_,"

"I don't understand…" the boy took a deep breath. He still couldn't believe it. "We saw the dead body in the hospital! He…you- _can't _be alive!" he choked slightly.

"Ah, that's where you're _wrong_," He replied, smiling.

"What the hell are you-"

"And that's when a _miracle_ happened. I was saved by a beautiful and enchanting goddess,"

This time, Hikari really thought that the black rider was going loco.

_Maybe I should just find a way to escape and beat the crap outta him._

"The Goddess of Time. She altered the timeline and saved my life. And for the cost of my life; well, I am now serving her, pretty much like a butler and his beloved mistress,"

"I used to hate you as much as I hated my parents…" Hikari sighed for a bit. "But now, it would seem that I have a better reason to hate you even more."

"Like I care," Oblivion, who was now known as Yami, said with a sarcastic laugh. "Well, it's just as you said; I don't _have_ a little brother anymore. Because he has chosen the path of the light and it would be impossible to offer him the path of the darkness _now_,"

Oblivion drew back the saber and stepped back, then quickly slashed the rider with his sword with such a powerful force until it caused Hikari to revert back to his human form.

"I'll be seeing you. I have other matters to attend to," The black rider tossed Kaze's saber to one side and walked away before finally disappearing out of sight.

"He could've killed the both of us…" he took a deep breath, turning back to where Ryo was. "He _had _that chance,"

Fortunately, Hikari wasn't as injured as he thought he'd be - since he felt that Oblivion held back all his strength for only God knows why. He forced himself up and limped towards Ryo, bending down to grab hold of his arm and put it over his shoulder.

"Guess I can't just leave you here now, can I?" Hikari said to Ryo, not expecting any reply from him. As he made his way out of the park, he thought that maybe he should ask for Radiance's help. But considering what happened just a few moments ago, he figured that his Imagin might just ignore him - like what _he_ did to him.

But suddenly, Hikari noticed a strange figure in white, just standing in front of him. It took a few moments for Hikari's eyes to adjust to the light emitting from the figure's body. And that's when he knew that it was actually Radiance.

"Hikari," Radiance said as he quickly moved closer to the two, taking Ryo's arm and putting it over his shoulder. The boy gave off a warm laugh.

"See? We're…alright…" Hikari said before going unconscious as well. Radiance managed to catch the boy in time and called for the time train. Soon after, he heard the familiar whistling sound of the train as it stopped right in front of him.

"Stubborn as always…" Radiance sighed to himself as he entered the train.

* * *

"_Mouuuu_…" Lily turned to face the window from her bed. She was already dressed in her PJ's as she hugged her diary. "Where's Hikari-chan…?"

* * *

"Ryo-sama!" Tsuchi burst into the room, nearly breaking the door of the Doran-Liner at the same time.

"Don't worry. He'll be fine," Radiance nodded confidently. "…in a few days," The Imagin scratched his head.

"F-F-Few…_DAYS!"_ Tsuchi moved over and shoved the white body away as he approached the unconscious boy on the bed. "Ryo-sama…"

Radiance nearly fell over with the bowl of water in his hands but manage to balance his body. He then grumbled to himself as he walked towards the bed and gently dabbed the wounds on Ryo's neck with a medicated cotton wool.

"He was coughing slight amounts of blood when we got back. And there's a faint slash wound on his chest, plus a minor-"

"W-W-What?" Tsuchi said in shock. "And what do you mean by _'minor'_?"

"You didn't let me finish…" Radiance said irritably. "A _really_ minor internal injury. You could say that the rider armor saved him,"

"R-R-Ryo-sama! Hospital! NOW!"

"Not to worry. It isn't life threatening. Like I said, he'll be fine in a few days; with some medication _and_ a good long rest,"

"Ugh…" Hikari groaned and sat up slowly from the bed, holding the wet towel that was placed on his head earlier on. "Where am I? My head hurts…"

"Train," A simple reply came from Radiance as he continued attending to Ryo's wounds. Hikari turned away from him and took a deep breath.

"Oh. I must've been drinking…" the boy turned away.

"You don't drink," Radiance said, slightly annoyed. "You only get drunk when you take too much medicine,"

"Okay! I'm sorry!"

"-sorry isn't enough to fix everything that you've done," Radiance said sternly and stood up, placing the first aid kit onto the table nearby.

"P-Please. Do not blame him." Tsuchi stepped in, concerned.

Radiance didn't know what was going on between the two boys since the Hikari had completely shut him out of his body that time. He thought it was Hikari who had fought Ryo until he was in this wounded state. Unfortunately, he was mistaken.

"I-It's alright. I am sure he did not mean it," Tsuchi got up and faced Radiance, bowing. Though he very well knew and remembered what Hikari tried to do in their previous battle.

Hikari stayed silent while Radiance turned back to the boy with a stern look. Just then, they heard a faint groan.

"It's not…his fault…" Ryo said in a low voice as he forced himself to sit. However, Tsuchi quickly approached him.

"Please rest, Ryo-sama!" gently pushing the boy to lie back down.

"Stop…adding the word 'sama' to my name…it's disturbing," Ryo mumbled irritably and eased down. He could barely get up without having a few aching muscles throbbing in his body.

"What do you mean? Isn't it his fault that you're in this state?" Radiance turned around and looked at Ryo.

"It's not," Ryo corrected and coughed. Though the two riders were in a fight, Oblivion was the one who did the final blow. "We were…attacked by some strange rider…in a…black armor,"

"-black armor…!" the white Imagin quickly turned to Hikari. "Don't tell me it's-"

"Yeah…" Hikari said and held the wet towel to his forehead, groaning. "Oblivion,"

"Tch…" Radiance slammed his fist onto the wall. For a moment there, the group could feel the whole train jerking from the force.

"Wait, guys…" there was another cough. "That Imagin is not...dead yet,"

"What do you mean? I killed him with my own hands," Hikari said as he quickly got up. Then he leaned against the wall as his legs caved in. He then noticed that there was a band-aid around his right arm.

"What do mosquitoes do?" Ryo suddenly said with a slight weak smirk on his face, turning to Hikari.

"What, _breed? _Multiply?" the boy guessed. "I don't think that fact applies to Imagins-" Hikari paused. Ryo then nodded with a serious look.

"Where are you getting at? I don't understand…" Hikari looked down to the floor, in a deep thought.

"You didn't think…that Imagins could keep a secret now, would you?" Ryo said again, taking the time to explain that the creature had carelessly told him about the countless numbers of larvae hidden somewhere in the forest.

"Damn it. Don't tell me there's a whole army now?"

"It has only been a day and since it will take at least…" Radiance explained about the time intervals needed for a mosquito to grow, but then paused. "But, we can't be too sure about that," he crossed his arms against his chest.

Hikari pushed himself off the wall and bolted for the door. But then, the boy bumped onto a figure.

"And where do you think _you're_ going?" Hikari gave a scoff and smirked, turning around to see the same white figure right beside Tsuchi. What Ryo and Tsuchi didn't know was that Radiance had the power to duplicate himself, which is quite an amazing ability. And it proved to be quite useful in times like these. Especially; _now_.

"Don't start this with me again," Hikari laughed before he grew serious. "Get out of my way," Hikari warned, preparing himself just in case Radiance decided to start a brawl.

"You're outnumbered," A third Radiance, which appeared right behind him, whispered in the boy's ear.

"Maybe," Suddenly Hikari made a swift move and grabbed the Imagin's right arm, locking it behind his back. "But you're weaker than me when you're like this,"

"That's because I always hold back. I'm warning you, Hikari-kun," The Imagin tried to break free but to no avail. More clones would mean less power in this state. Radiance's power was not perfect just yet.

"What can you do?" the boy said in a dangerous tone.

"Stop it, you two!" Tsuchi got up in an attempt to break up the fight, but Ryo grabbed his arm and stood up groggily.

"Save the fight for later," a weak voice said.

Tsuchi's jaw practically dropped, "How can you say that! You are actually saying it is a good thing to fight amongst ourselves!"

"It's called training. Now be quiet," Ryo shot a glare at Tsuchi before limping his way to Hikari. Tsuchi decided to remain silent.

"What is it now?" Hikari said as he released Radiance's arms and pushed him away.

"I'm going,"

"No. In that condition, you'll only get in my way," He gave a stern look.

"Then we'll all go," Ryo stubbornly replied.

"I said n-"

"Sometimes," Ryo cut him short. "You need to… work together to get the job done,"

"I don't need your help," Hikari stubbornly turned away from him and headed for the door while Radiance's clones disappeared.

"I'm not useless…just yet. I know where he's going to strike next," Ryo finally said. The other boy stopped in his tracks and surrendered, while giving a sigh. He turned his attention back to Ryo.

"Alright, let's hear it,"

* * *

In the city, three guards were lying on the ground unconscious and the back door was left open and unattended. Very soon, eight mosquito Imagins were seen dashing through the door and heading for the shop lots.

"BLOOD!"

* * *

On the other side of the mall…

"Damn…" Ryo he coughed again.

"Yeah… _'damn'_. You should've stayed in the train and play with your nanny," Hikari said, obviously referring to Tsuchi as the nanny, in a sarcastic tone.

"Shut up. I didn't come here… to be nagged at by _you_," Ryo said between coughs.

"That wasn't a joke though, Yoyo." An annoyed Hikari replied.

"Don't call me…'Yoyo'. My name is Ryo…and I'm not some toy on a string,"

"Yes you are. You're the toy while your nanny is the string." He scoffed.

"Why are you… talking crap anyway?"

"I only talk crap with _you_," Hikari said again.

"WILL YOU TWO STOP IT!" Radiance barked, making the other two jump. "You two act like a bunch of 5 year olds!"

"It's his fault," Hikari said and shot a glare at Ryo. The other boy remained silent and looked away.

"I was here the whole time and from my point of view, YOU were the one who started it." The white Imagin gave a sigh and shook his head.

_And I'm the nanny around here…_

"Heh. Figures. Even my own Imagin isn't on my side,"

"Now what's that suppose to mean?" Radiance asked in annoyance.

"Shhh. You two," Ryo said, turning his attention over to the flower shop. "They're here,"

"…in a flower shop? And _why_…?" Hikari asked himself, puzzled.

"Must be the fragrance," The white Imagin stated.

"Wait. There's only two of 'em," Ryo moved to get a closer look but flinched. "Ugh!"

"Kaze. Take it easy,"

"…why are you calling me by my rider name?" the boy asked and gave Radiance a strange look.

"Tch. Just stay here and be a good dog," Hikari said to Ryo with a scoff. He knew that the boy could pass out any minute now, seeing as how pale his face was. Radiance could tell that Hikari was actually worried about Ryo and he also knew that he acted like a jerk just to cover it up. There was some good I him after all.

"Hmph. I don't need to listen to you,"

"Do I really need to repeat myself?" Hikari said quietly. Then he turned to where Radiance was crouching - Only, he wasn't actually crouching there anymore.

"Where'd he-"

"Watch out!" Ryo called out to warn him. One of the mosquito Imagins was just about to attack him and as soon as Hikari turned back, he felt his consciousness being taken over.

"Oh, no you don't," a different voice said as he blocked the attack with both of his arms. The voice came from Hikari and it was obviously Radiance's.

_So this is what he looks like with his Imagin… _

Ryo thought to himself, mostly impressed with Hikari's 'new look'.

When the boy was being possessed by Radiance, his hair turns fully white in colour, as if it was bleached, and his front bangs droops down slightly, nearly covering his right eye. And he seems to be wearing a thick silver jacket complete with white baggy pants. There was also a metallic-like symbol shaped like an angel's wing on the back of his jacket. His shoes were like no other that you could find in the stores. They were white in colour and they seemed to have futuristic-like patterns on it which glows in a pale yellow.

"And he almost looks…like those break dancers…I've seen on the streets," Ryo thought aloud, panting between breaths.

Hikari's head snapped back to him, "I'm flattered. Was that a compliment? Or_ an insult_?"

Ryo twitched slightly and he knew that it was Hikari's voice that was replying to him. "Maybe…_both_."

R-Hikari grabbed the Imagins's arm and tossed him a few meters away before getting up from his position. "We'll settle this later, Ryo."

Ryo struggled to stand as he reached down to his pocket for the rider pass. Then, without a moment to waste, he swiped it over the rider belt which instantly appeared around his waist.

"Henshin…" he said quietly.

"SABER FORM!" the belt announced aloud. The transformation was immediate and Kaze quickly assembled the gashers to form a pair of sabers.

"My turn!" Radiance said as he pulled out the white rider pass from his back pocket. Again, the rider belt appeared instantaneously. With a swift swipe;

"RADIANT FORM!" the voice announced and the transformation began to take place. The base form of Doran enveloped his body, followed by a set of white armor. R-Hikari didn't stand to wait for the transformation however, and he quickly leaped towards the Imagin and aimed for a hard punch right at his face.

The Imagin was thrown back by the sudden hit and crashed onto a set of tables and chairs. The transformation came to an end as soon as R-Hikari landed on his feet.

Again, Ryo slightly twitched from the armor's appearance. He remembered the black rider who almost killed him just a few hours ago. Then again, he took a closer look. Of course it was different. This form was pure white with faint yellow glows coming from the patterns of the armor. And most notable, the visor was way different from the black rider's 'demonic' shape. This one seems to be either a harp or a crown.

"Hey," Kaze SF called out to Doran RF. "I'm heading to the East Wing."

"Tsuchigumo! Take care of him!" Radiance called aloud and proceeded to attack the Imagins. Kaze dashed off to the said area, leaving the two to settle the fight. As soon as Kaze was out of sight, Doran RF pulled out the gashers from the side of his belt and began to assemble it. The creature got up groggily and headed straight for the rider.

Doran just did a side step to avoid the vile creature, since it was still wobbly from the impact of the crash. The Imagin headed for the bank and crashed onto the glass, shattering it in the process. The pieces of the glass pierced his body he cried out in pain.

"Wow, nice." Radiance said to himself and finally put the last piece of the gasher together. The weapon doubled in size and it appeared to be a pair of daggers. "Reach out for the light once you have repented your sins. Only then it will accept you without rejection."

"_For a moment there, you remind me of an angel…or at least, a priest."_ Hikari said in his mind with a sigh.

* * *

"Guh…" Kaze stopped in his tracks and kneeled down to one knee, holding his chest in pain. "I've reached my limit…"

"_Ryo-sama!"_ Tsuchi's faint voice called out to him.

"Take over…" The boy said in a weak voice. Before collapsing, his Imagin took over and stood up straight. Kaze's Saber Form disappeared as the pass appeared in the grip of his hand. T-Ryo quickly swiped it against the belt buckle.

"GLAIVE FORM!" the voice said and Tsuchi's form took place as he headed for the East Wing of the mall, assembling his weapon at the same time.

As soon as he reached his destination, Kaze GF stopped and looked around. The Imagins wasn't around. Or so it seemed.

Only a few seconds had passed and Kaze was then surrounded by the remaining six of the mosquito imagins. Kaze GF took his stance and spun his glaive.

"Never retreat from a battle. That is the main rule for a warrior."

Kaze GF dashed towards one of the imagins and gave a hard slash. He continued the attack with the other lingering imagins. After a few moments, Tsuchi noticed that the imagins were certainly weak. It might have been because they were still 'young' and they just hatched from the larvae. He decided that he should end the fight with the full charge attack.

"FULL CHARGE!" the voice announced as soon as Kaze made that quick swipe. Few streaks of electricity formed around his glaive as he began to spin it around. The imagins could feel the strong wind around them as they started getting anxious.

"Attack!" one of them shouted and very soon, all six of the creatures dashed towards the rider. What a wrong move to make. As soon as they were close, Kaze stopped spinning his weapon and turned his body to slash the imagins around them. The rider paused and turned to walk away from the creatures. Their bodies rapidly turned into sand.

Kaze turned to look into one of shop lots and found two dead bodies with lying on the ground. Who knows how many humans have the imagins killed by now.

"But, we have destroyed them now. At least, another 10% of humans here were saved."

"Good work, Tsuchigumo." A voice said and the white rider walked out from the corner to greet Kaze.

"Please. Just call me Tsuchi." The navy rider bowed respectfully.

"Alright, Tsuchi. Let's head home. I'm pretty sure that boy's unconscious now." Radiance said and turned to walk towards the exit.

"He certainly is…" Tsuchi said worriedly and followed.

"How weak…" Hikari insulted.

_But anyway, just hurry up! I don't want to pay for the damages we've done here!_

* * *

It was almost midnight and Lily was still wide awake, staring blankly at the ceiling.

"It's nothing to worry about, Lily. I'm pretty sure he's already at home." She said to herself with a smile. She turned to her side to face the glass door of the balcony and closed her eyes.

Just a few minutes later, she heard a faint and soothing melody from a musical instrument.

"Hm?" she slowly stood up and turned to where the music came from. It seemed familiar to her. Then her eyes widened as she noticed a dark figure waving to her. She scrambled off the bed and opened the door widely. "Hikari-chan!"

"Yo." He greeted with a warm smile.

"You're alright!" Lily said happily and ran to him for a hug. But she quickly stopped in time, realizing that he was sitting on the edge of the railing.

_Yikes! I could've killed him!_

"Phew. We might've fell together you know." He said with a laugh.

"It's been a while since I last heard you play…" Lily said with a faint blush. Hikari looked at the flute that he was holding.

"Of course. I just got back, remember?"

"I know that!" she said with a laugh.

"I should head back now. Your parents might suspect something."

"Oh…" her smile disappeared. "See you tomorrow then."

"Don't worry," Hikari smiled. "Tomorrow is just a few hours away."

With that, he gave her a salute and leaped off the railing. Lily gasped and ran closer, looking down. Hikari seemed to have landed softly on his own two feet and ran off to the gate. Lily sighed in relief and giggled to herself, turning back to her room and finally closing the class door behind her.

"Ugh…I shouldn't have done that." He said to himself and held his chest. The impact from the jump was really painful. Especially when he was injured. "Hopefully I'll be better by Monday. Gym class is coming up…"

From a distance, a dark figure crossed his arms together as he watched Hikari from the hill as he was seen summoning and finally stepping into his own time train, disappearing into the vortex in the sky. He then turned to the mansion with a smirk on his face.

"See you, my brother."


End file.
